Since Chiwetel Ejoifor is in the news due to his nomination for "Twelve Years a Slave", I asked my son if he had ever seen him in anything else. He hadn't. I recommended "Talk To Me", the 2007 film that should have gotten more attention than it did. Based on a true story and person, Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., a famous DJ on a Washington D.C. radio station, Don Cheadle plays Petey, and Ejiofor is his producer, Martin Sheen the owner of the station and Taraji P. Henson Petey's girlfriend. The cast also includes Cedric the Entertainer and Mike Epps. This movie is fun, funny, touching and educational at the same time. Ejoifor playes Dewey Hughes, who recruits Petey to jazz up the station and appeal to Black listeners. Petey is an ex-con, and player, a bullshit artist and nevertheless engaging. Sheen is doubtful, but takes a chance on Petey, with successful results.
The film is also about the friendship between Dewey, college educated and wanting to elevate the Black man, and Petey, who refuses to be elevated, even when he gets his chance at superstardom on TV with Dewey as his agent and manager. They couldn't be more different, but they love each other. One of the highlights of the film is Petey's getting on the radio to talk people down during the riots after Martin Luther King's death. He prevented a lot of violence from occurring.
The sets and costumes are delightful and take us back to the sixties and seventies, and to an era when radio had a tremendous impact on people. The acting shines, and, as I'm as much a fan of Cheadle as Ejoifor, it's a dream team. Henson and Sheen are irresistable as well. Take a ride on the soul train and see what all the fuss was about.
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