Talk to Me
Kasi Lemmons new film Talk to Me is a pretty good one but it is not as good (or great) as some of the critics are claiming it is.
The story is set in the late 1960s in Washington DC. Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle) is the prison DJ and he has quite a following among the inmates. When Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofer) visits his brother who is also an inmate he can't help but notice Petey's abilities as a DJ. Dewey works as a local radio station and knows talent. But Petey is pretty rough and he is prison so there is nothing that can be done. Petey tells Dewey that he will look him up in reference for a job when he gets out of jail. And believe it or not he manages to get out of jail not too long after their meeting.
When Petey shows up at the radio station with his girlfriend Vernell (Taraji P. Henson) all hell breaks loose. Dewey's boss E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen) wants no part of Petey. But eventually Dewey persuades him to give Petey a try and the show becomes very popular.
I am leaving out some details and I certainly don't want to give too much away. Petey becomes the voice of the black people and some of the other DJs are jealous (one of them is Nighthawk who is played by Cedric the Entertainer). I will say that while Petey is an opportunist so is Dewey. His style is just different. There are some wonderful moments in the film. The segment surrounding the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and its aftermath is outstanding. Another terrific part of the film is towards the end and involves Petey and Dewey. It is a highly emotional scene. But much of the film suffers from the fact that is just feels ordinary. That is in part due to the fact that the screenplay, written Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, lacks a certain something.
The acting is good. I enjoyed watching Cheadle and Henson. They were funny even though their over the top acting was a bit hammy. But after a while the shtick got a bit tired. I think that Cheadle is a great actor and he was good in this (channeling Richard Pryor) but I have seen him do better (and I expect that he will do great things in the future). The best one in the film is Ejiofer. His role is not as showy as Cheadle's but he brings a great deal of depth to it. I have been following his career for a while (I think since I saw him in Dirty Pretty Things) and he never fails to impress. As I said before, Talk to Me is not a great film. But there is enough in it for me to recommend it. Whether you see it on the big screen or DVD doesn't matter. But you should certainly check it out.
The story is set in the late 1960s in Washington DC. Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene (Don Cheadle) is the prison DJ and he has quite a following among the inmates. When Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofer) visits his brother who is also an inmate he can't help but notice Petey's abilities as a DJ. Dewey works as a local radio station and knows talent. But Petey is pretty rough and he is prison so there is nothing that can be done. Petey tells Dewey that he will look him up in reference for a job when he gets out of jail. And believe it or not he manages to get out of jail not too long after their meeting.
When Petey shows up at the radio station with his girlfriend Vernell (Taraji P. Henson) all hell breaks loose. Dewey's boss E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen) wants no part of Petey. But eventually Dewey persuades him to give Petey a try and the show becomes very popular.
I am leaving out some details and I certainly don't want to give too much away. Petey becomes the voice of the black people and some of the other DJs are jealous (one of them is Nighthawk who is played by Cedric the Entertainer). I will say that while Petey is an opportunist so is Dewey. His style is just different. There are some wonderful moments in the film. The segment surrounding the death of Martin Luther King, Jr. and its aftermath is outstanding. Another terrific part of the film is towards the end and involves Petey and Dewey. It is a highly emotional scene. But much of the film suffers from the fact that is just feels ordinary. That is in part due to the fact that the screenplay, written Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa, lacks a certain something.
The acting is good. I enjoyed watching Cheadle and Henson. They were funny even though their over the top acting was a bit hammy. But after a while the shtick got a bit tired. I think that Cheadle is a great actor and he was good in this (channeling Richard Pryor) but I have seen him do better (and I expect that he will do great things in the future). The best one in the film is Ejiofer. His role is not as showy as Cheadle's but he brings a great deal of depth to it. I have been following his career for a while (I think since I saw him in Dirty Pretty Things) and he never fails to impress. As I said before, Talk to Me is not a great film. But there is enough in it for me to recommend it. Whether you see it on the big screen or DVD doesn't matter. But you should certainly check it out.
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:30 PM
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