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Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene (Don Cheadle) was nothing but a con until he found his true calling while doing time in the ‘60s. Petey took a job reading the daily announcements over the prison’s PA system, but then he discovered that he wanted more. He wanted to reach out to his fellow inmates and give them some hope. And in that prison, a DJ was born.
Once he gets out of prison, Petey heads straight for Washington, D.C., radio station WOL, where a fellow inmate’s brother, Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), works as the programming manager. With the help of his devoted yet somewhat unstable girlfriend, Vernell (Taraji P. Henson)—and a whole lot of determination—Petey eventually manages to get a job as the station’s morning DJ. The energetic new DJ takes the Washington airwaves by storm with his tell-it-like-it-is approach. And while the station’s owner, E. G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen), is hesitant to keep him around, Dewey’s sure he can make Petey a star.
Based on a true story, Talk to Me is an inspiring film—but it’s also real. Things don’t just fall into place for the obviously talented ex-con. He has to fight for what he wants—and, even after he gets it, things don’t always go the way he wants them to. Sometimes, he makes the wrong decisions—and he has to deal with the consequences. Things aren’t always neat—and that’s what makes the story so captivating, not to mention believable.
But no matter how well-written the story is (and, especially for the movie’s first half, it definitely is), the film still wouldn’t have been as moving and powerful if it hadn’t been for the brilliant performances. Cheadle and Ejiofor are both at their best—and, because of them (not to mention Henson, who’s perfectly crazy), it’s impossible not to get caught up in the story. You’ll feel the tension in the air during Petey’s first moments on the air, and the scenes following the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., are so heartbreaking that they’ll bring tears to your eyes.
Unfortunately, the story seems to fall apart toward the movie’s end. For the last half hour or so, it loses its direction and fizzles out, as though the screenwriter didn’t really know how to tell the rest of the story. But those last few awkward minutes couldn’t possibly ruin the rest of this powerful film. Be sure to check this one out—because while awards season may still be months away, Cheadle and Ejiofor are already on my list of nominees.
