Talk to Me (2007)
Average Rating: 6.9/10
Reviews Counted: 126
Fresh: 103 | Rotten: 23
A riveting look at the life of legendary DJ "Petey" Greene, Talk to Me goes beyond the typical biopic with explosive performances from Don Cheadle and Chiwetal Ejiofor.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 37
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 9
A riveting look at the life of legendary DJ "Petey" Greene, Talk to Me goes beyond the typical biopic with explosive performances from Don Cheadle and Chiwetal Ejiofor.
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Average Rating: 3.6/5
User Ratings: 41,116
Movie Info
Don Cheadle stars as outspoken ex-convict and iconic radio personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene in a powerful biopic detailing the life and career of a media figure whose voice instilled the black community with hope during the turbulent 1960s. After talking his way onto the Washington, D.C. airwaves in the era of free love, a man emboldened by the inspirational soul music and rapidly expanding social consciousness that defined the decade openly courts controversy as his put-upon producer,
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Cast
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Don Cheadle
Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Gre... -
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Dewey Hughes -
Cedric the Entertainer
"Nighthawk" Bob Terry -
Taraji P. Henson
Vernell Watson -
Mike Epps
Milo Hughes -
Martin Sheen
E.G. Sonderling -
Vondie Curtis-Hall
Sunny Jim Kelsey -
J. Miles Dale
Program Director -
Sean MacMahon
Ronnie Simmons -
Jeff Kassel
WOL P.A.
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Talk to Me Trailer & Photos
All Critics (126) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (103) | Rotten (23) | DVD (18)
In its wrenching shift from farce to tragedy, and its evocation of the bridge offered by friendship, Talk to Me tells it, and keeps on tellin' it, much as 'Petey' Greene would have.
Top CriticThanks to its two leads, the film remains vivid, honest and deeply felt.
Speaks powerfully to audiences with its potent blend of extraordinary performances and engaging soundtrack.
The movie's occasional narrative shortcomings are offset by the performances, which are uniformly fine.
Its dialogue, equal parts uptight honky and jumping jive seems, particularly in the early stretches, to have been generated by a computer.
The characters are brought to vivid life with remarkably compelling performances by two of the screen's most versatile actors: Don Cheadle as the freewheeling Greene; and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Hughes, the aggressively ambitious executive.
Kasi Lemmons' radio drama of flamboyance, fury and finesse cranks the funk on a sister station to "Talk Radio" and "Good Morning Vietnam," powered by two performances of impeccable clarity and cut from Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
Although the director succumbs to the genreâ(TM)s temptation to wrap up a messy life with a neat, platitudinous resolution, she lets her cast give Greene and his era its due.
Talk to Me is an incisive portrait of a provocative figure. It comes very close to caricature, but remains human and lively.
Just as she did in Hustle and Flow, Taraji P. Henson steals many a scene and is wonderful as Greene's flamboyant girlfriend.
It's a visually and aurally riveting trip to an important time from a perspective few here will know, about a person worth meeting.
Don Cheadle and Chiwetel Ejiofor make a terrific duo, first as enemies, then as colleagues and finally as partners %u2013 until the partnership self destructs.
Even Martin Sheen is keepin' it real.
A good movie about a powerful friendship, and it brings a bygone era back to life.
Hysterically potent, thought-provoking and deliciously nostalgic. Overall, the proposed chatter is warranted in the movingly impish Talk to Me.
Ejiofor and Cheadle are a force to be reckoned with...
This straightforward schematic biopic never talks to me.
A stronger screenplay and more sensitive direction would have made this movie into something far more genuinely uplifting than it is.
The movie is decent enough, but contains Greene's story in a sentimentalised career arc.
This biopic of Greene, a DJ most Brits will not know, has a limited appeal.
Poignant and often very funny, Cheadle deserves a clutch of prizes come awards season.
If the picture doesn't ultimately live up to the raw vitality of Cheadle's performance, it remains an uplifting snapshot that broadcasts its message with zero distortion. Tune in and you won't be turned off.
A traditionally handsome biopic bursting with 1960s period detail and firecracker performances, Talk To Me tackles one of the most volatile periods in American history, but tragically finds nothing interesting to say about it.
The incendiary soundtrack and committed performances keep the film in its groove, which could give Cheadle another well-deserved shot at an Oscar.
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Movie: ID: 598455126 Title: Talk to Me Release Date: 2007-07-27 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 4 Status: 1
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The first act of this film sets up themes of negotiating "blackness," and set as it is during the Civil Rights era, this is an interesting question, pitting the executive against the ex-con. But the plot eventually degrades into thematically irrelevant and unfocused interpersonal dynamics that make the film as a whole more like My Week with Marilyn than Malcolm X, as Dewey Hughes, the radio executive, must keep Petey Greene, the host, from sabotaging both their careers.
The performances by Don Cheadle, whose antics are barely on the right side of believability, and Chiwetel Ejiofor are very good. I especially like Ejiofor whose reserve and intensity are characteristic of his fine body of work.
Overall, though the film has promise at the beginning, this biopic ultimately doesn't live up to expectations; it's just good enough to make me wish it were better.