In today's world where talk radio dominates the airwaves from the likes of Stern, Limbaugh and many more, it's easy to forget those who blazed the trails long before those icons ever sat before a mic and entertained, enlightened, and/or shocked their listeners.
One of them was Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green Jr. who became a familiar voice to those in the Washington, DC area in the 1960s and '70s on WOL-AM. A former inmate, he turned his smooth "jive" talk into a successful career on both radio and TV, informed and educated his mostly black audience about how to better their lives, and served as a calming but also activist voice during the incendiary inner-city riots following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
All of that and more is examined and brought to the screen by director Kasi Lemmons in "Talk to Me," an engaging biopic that's fueled by an interesting story, a terrific period soundtrack, and two stellar performances that could very well lead to many end-of-the-year accolades, nominations, and maybe even wins for the film's leads.
In the far flashier role of Green is the always stellar Don Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda," "Crash") who once again proves he's one of the better actors working today. From the character's days in prison, to his trying to land a deejay gig at the station through the riots and then beyond, Cheadle nails the performance.
The script -- by Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa -- doesn't do the standard childhood prologue often found in such biopics, and perhaps doesn't delve as deeply into the man behind the persona as some might like. Yet, Cheadle takes the character -- that easily could have been the second coming of Undercover Brother -- and makes him human to the extent that we don't really need to know the back-story of his life that got him in prison in the first place.
Playing opposite him is the equally brilliant Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Dirty Pretty Things," "Children of Men") as real-life radio producer Dewey Hughes who, in his later years, bought the radio station that then became the starting point for the broadcast empire known as Radio One, Inc. The actor and filmmakers easily could have made the character stand in the shadows of Green as something of a second banana persona. Instead, they wisely make him the deejay's equal, and the relationship between the two -- through good times and bad -- is what drives the plot forward.
It, and some fun dialogue from the scribes makes the film's first hour or so crackle with humor, excitement, and the feeling that one's watching brilliant filmmaking. Unfortunately, Lemmons ("The Caveman's Valentine," "Eve's Bayou") can't maintain that momentum, partly because the character novelty factor begins to wear off. The bigger issue, however, and one that afflicts many a biopic, is that the film clearly turns episodic in its second half, particularly after the assassination and ensuing riots material sends the plot onto a detour and then a decidedly different course.
Events and time begin to pass by in a flurry of chronology, with the result being that the viewer is forced to become a bystander to the passing of this story's history, rather than feeling like part of the drama and characters as so easily occurs in the film's first half. It's not a devastating fault, but it's certainly one that lets some of the air out of this otherwise highflying offering.
Supporting performances are solid across the board, particularly from Taraji P. Henson as Petey's outspoken girlfriend and Martin Sheen as the seemingly stuffy white station owner who's initially reluctant to give the deejay a job and takes a while before he's comfortable letting him run his mind and mouth unfettered over the airwaves.
A blast to watch in the first half but a bit less so as the second hurriedly progresses from one episodic moment to the next, the film -- fueled by strong, award-worthy performances from its two leads -- should introduce a whole new set of eyes and ears to the words, wisdom and style of one of talk radio's trailblazers. "Talk to Me" rates as a 6.5 out of 10.
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