Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases


Talk to Me (2007)

Director: Kasi Lemmons

Time Out rating

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

All bubble-Afro, killer moustache and baaad threads, Don Cheadle uncorks a wonderful performance to vibe up this portrait of late ’60s motormouth shock-jock, Petey Greene. Jaw locked on full-auto, Cheadle is pure hustle and flow as the prison DJ jive-talks himself out of the big house and on to fading Washington radio station, WOL. Greene hit the airwaves like a bomb, mainlining a morning monologue of crude humour and disarming social comment to become a black civil-rights icon who cooled the city’s riot-rage after Martin Luther King’s death.

Pumping the period vibe with an R&B greatest-hits soundtrack and civil-unrest footage, director Karl Simmons’ biopic seems content to crunch gears between energetic comedy and earnest message-pic. But several things are already happening. Minute by minute, Cheadle uncovers rippling layers of fear and vulnerability behind Greene’s superfly strut. Then the twin to his balancing act emerges. Playing straight-suited WOL manager Dewey Hughes – an Oreo ‘Mr Tibbs’, Greene dubs him – Chiwetel Ejiofor carefully shades in a character of equal depth, passion and contradiction. Most interesting of all? Barely any of these nuances exist in the bold, obvious script (co-inked by Hughes’ brother). It’s a fascinating triumph of performance, with Cheadle and Ejiofor’s subtle, beautiful turns bending the film into a complex portrait of volatile friendship. The story finally dips into sitcom tragedy, with Dewey’s blinkered efforts to drive Petey – now drowning in booze and self-doubt – into ‘Tonight Show’ superstardom. But thanks to its two leads, the film remains vivid, honest and deeply felt.

Author: Jonathan Crocker

Time Out London Issue 1944: November 20-26 2007


What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields




Most popular on this site


Top Stories

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has David Cronenberg turned tame?

Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?

The 10 worst date movies

The 10 worst date movies

Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films

Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas

10 unlikely badboy biopics

10 unlikely badboy biopics

Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects

Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'

The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day

Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing