Talk to Me

“Talk to me/so you can see/what’s going on”
-lyrics from Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” (1971)

Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr. refused to talk about anything other than what was going on. He was one of the few true “men of the people,” who in the mid-to-late 1960’s, revolutionized the radio medium by bringing uncensored issues of race, politics, and prejudice to the airwaves. His wild success as a Washington D.C. disk jockey offered him enough fame to keep him set for life. Yet Greene never desired to be anything other than the voice of a community that needed to be heard.

This briskly entertaining biopic pays tribute to Greene’s courage, while also capturing his humor and charisma. As played by Don Cheadle, one of the nation’s most versatile and engaging actors, Greene comes across as an irrepressible force of nature, whose considerable vulnerabilities only gradually come into view. What drives the film is his growing friendship with WOL-AM program director Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor, every bit Cheadle’s match), the brother of an inmate the ex-convict Greene befriended in prison. Now a free man, Greene literally talks himself onto the air at Hughes’s station.

They’re the perfect odd couple—Greene criticizes Hughes’s “Sidney Poitier”-style cooperation with the Man; Hughes counters by slamming Greene’s recklessness, and devotion to the persona of a black caricature decked out in a “clown suit.” Their partnership at first seems unthinkable, yet as they slowly gain respect for each other, it becomes apparent that either man cannot succeed without the other.

The film’s first half-hour unfolds with giddy excitement, as Greene approaches the microphone for the first time. Yet as the film continues, its pacing seems almost too rushed for its own good, even at a running time of 118 minutes. The film moves at such a delirious pace it practically flies off the screen, and at times threatens to be overly broad (too many emotional encounters devolve into fistfights).

What makes the film resonate are the altogether marvelous performances from the principal duo, as well as Cedric the Entertainer (as “Nighthawk” Bob Terry), Taraji P. Henson (as Greene’s devoted love Vernell Watson), and a wonderful Martin Sheen (who breathes life into the would-be one-note white stereotype of station head E. G. Sonderling). Though Talk to Me falls short of being a great film, it certainly is a terrific one, and director Kasi Lemmons (along with screenwriters Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa) succeed in depicting Greene as a complex man whose virtues at times limit his achievements.

In the film’s single best scene, Greene is offered the greatest possible platform to communicate, and he lets the opportunity slip from his grasp. Why? He wanted to talk about reality. The audience just wanted to hear some black jokes.

Rating: **** (out of *****)