One of the best films this year and one of Don Cheadle's finest performances.
By Edwin Hopkins
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HUGE

“I’ll tell it to the hot, I’ll tell it to the cold, I’ll tell it to the young, I’ll tell it to the old. I don’t want no laughin’, I don’t want no cryin’, and most of all, no signifyin’.”  These familiar words were Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene’s philosophy of life, an ex-con turned Washington D.C. radio DJ who was a “shock jock” before the term was even invented and became synonymous with Howard Stern and Imus.

Talk To Me, through a shining Oscar worthy performance by Don Cheadle, chronicles the adult life of this trash talking Washingtonian that is so intimate, you’ll feel as if you have a friend despite not knowing who he is. 

Petey Greene is brought in spinning wax (records) for the prisoners of Lorton Penitentiary. His comic flavor over the cell blocks seems to appease many of his fellow inmates, giving them something to laugh at or about even in the midst of short and long incarcerations.

This is exactly what happens when Greene is released early via a deal that will have you in stitches after it’s fully revealed. With his sassy girlfriend Vernell, a terrific Taraji P. Henson, Greene brashly enters WOL’s main office demanding a job. Naturally, in so many words from Dewey and station manger E.G. Sonderling (West Wing’s Martin Sheen) he’s told to leave the premises.

But following a few personal and public incidents including an outright protest against the station Dewey decides to take a chance on Greene’s savvy style. It pays off and soon Petey Greene is the most popular morning d.j. in our nation’s capitol- much to the chagrin of night jock Bob Terry played by comic fave Cedric the Entertainer.

Their rivalry rises to a peak which involves Vernell in a compromising situation that quickly goes from serious to rather funny. However, the skirmish is broken up immediately when Sonderling walks in with a distressing telegram reporting the brutal assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Petey taking the airwaves immediately upon getting the news, is the most poignant scene as he tries to calm a violent, fiery uproar of Black people in the streets. For those of us who remember that horrific day, April 4th memories of burning buildings andsome of the worst bloodshed in history will return to your minds.

Don Cheadle engages you fully into Greene’s persona as he did with hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina. Another powerful performance about a man who despite his tragic mistakes, eventually became an asset to society instead of a liability. He may be an ex-convict, but you want to see him succeed.

Kasi Lemmons, director of the compelling Eve’s Bayou of 1997, serves up no pretensions dealing with the decade of the 60’s and beyond. And neither do her scribe collaorators, Michael Genet and Rick Famuyima. They lead you down memory lane toward times when social change was becoming a fact of American life, effecting everyone.

Rocking to soulful tunes like James Brown’s “Say It Loud” and Billy Preston’s Outa Space, Talk to Me is a classic inspired by true story of a man who really made a difference and drew 10,000 mourners to his funeral. The largest turnout for a non-elected official in D.C.’s history.