''Talk to Me'' is a 2007 biographical film directed by

Kasi Lemmons Kasi Lemmons (; born Karen Lemmons, February 24, 1961) is an American film director, screenwriter, and actress. She made her directorial debut with ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), followed by '' Talk to Me'' (2007), ''Black Nativity'' (2013), '' Harriet ...

and starring

Don Cheadle Donald Frank Cheadle Jr. (; born November 29, 1964) is an American actor. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including two Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, two Golden Globe Awards and two Screen Actors Guild Awards. He has also earned nom ...

Chiwetel Ejiofor Chiwetel Umeadi Ejiofor ( ; born 10 July 1977) is a British actor. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a BAFTA Award, a Laurence Olivier Award, an NAACP Image Award, and nominations for an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awa ...

, Taraji P. Henson,

Cedric the Entertainer Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He hosted BET's '' ComicView'' during the 1993–1994 season and '' Def Comedy Jam'' in 1995. He is ...

, and

Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and '' The Hangover Part III'' as "Bl ...

. It is about

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist, and

Dewey Hughes Dewey Hughes (born 1932) is an African American former radio personality and was Petey Greene's manager. Early life Dewey Hughes was born in South Carolina in 1932. Career Hughes was introduced to Petey Greene by his older brother Milo at Lorton R ...

, his friend and manager. The film spans the time period May 1966 to January 1984, ending with Greene's memorial service. The film premiered as the opening night film of the 2007

Los Angeles Film Festival The LA Film Festival was an annual film festival that was held in Los Angeles, California, and usually took place in June. It showcased independent, international, feature, documentary and short films, as well as web series, music videos, episod ...

, on June 22, 2007. It opened in North America in a limited release on July 13, 2007, and nationwide on August 3, 2007.

Cast

as Ralph "Petey" Greene *

* Taraji P. Henson as Vernell Watson *

as "Nighthawk" Bob Terry *

as Milo Hughes *

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

as E.G. Sonderling * Vondie Curtis Hall as Sunny Jim Kelsey * Richard Chevolleau as Poochie Braxton * Alison Sealy-Smith as Freda * Elle Downs as Peaches * Herbert L. Rawlings, Jr. as James Brown * Damir Andrei as

Frederick de Cordova Frederick Timmins de Cordova (October 27, 1910 – September 15, 2001) was an American stage, motion picture and television director and producer. He is best known for his work on ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''. Early life De Cordova ...

* Jim Malmberg as Johnny Carson

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 126 reviews and an average score of 6.95/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A riveting look at the life of legendary DJ 'Petey' Greene, Talk to Me goes beyond the typical biopic with explosive performances from Don Cheadle and Chiwetal Ejiofor." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has an average score of 69 out of 100 based on 32 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Michael Rechtshaffen of the ''

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

'' wrote in his review: "Again demonstrating why he's one of the most versatile actors around, Don Cheadle gives another prize-worthy performance as Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene Jr., the irrepressible radio DJ whose keepin'-it-real style made him a trusted voice on the airwaves during the turbulent late '60s and early '70s. ..Also keeping it real are those rich period touches contributed by production designer Warren Alan Young and costume designer Gersha Phillips, whose fabulous creations for Henson appear to have come directly from the blaxploitation attic." Greene's surviving family members did not cooperate with the making of the film and criticized it for taking liberties with his portrayal and those around him.

Release

''Talk to Me'' was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on October 30, 2007, and September 7, 2010, as a

wide screen Widescreen images are displayed within a set of aspect ratios (relationship of image width to height) used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than t ...

edition. The film was released on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on March 22, 2010.

Awards and nominations

* African-American Film Critics ** Best Director:

(Winner) ** Best Actor:

(Winner) ** Best Supporting Actor:

(Winner) * Image Awards ** Outstanding Motion Picture (Nominated) ** Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture:

(Nominated) ** Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture: Taraji P. Henson (Nominated) ** Outstanding Director in a Motion Picture:

(Winner) ** Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture:

(Nominated) ** Outstanding Writing for a Motion Picture:

Michael Genet Michael Genet (born August 25, 1958) is an American actor and screenwriter. He has guest starred in a number of television series based in the New York City area, they include '' The Equalizer'', ''New York Undercover'', ''Law & Order'', '' Law & ...

Rick Famuyiwa Rick Famuyiwa (born June 18, 1973) is an American director, producer and screenwriter of productions including '' The Wood'' (1999), ''Brown Sugar'' (2002), '' Talk to Me'' (2007), '' Dope'' (2015), and ''Confirmation'' (2016). His films have be ...

(Winner) * Independent Spirit Awards ** Best Male Lead:

(Nominated) ** Best Supporting Male:

(Winner) *

Gotham Awards The Gotham Awards () are American film awards, presented annually to the makers of independent films at a ceremony in New York City, the city first nicknamed "Gotham" by native son Washington Irving, in an issue of ''Salmagundi'', published o ...

** Best Ensemble (Winner) * Satellite Awards ** Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy:

(Nominated) ** Best Supporting Actress: Taraji P. Henson (Nominated)

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Talk To Me 2007 films 2007 biographical drama films African-American films American biographical films Biographical films about criminals Films about activists American biographical drama films Films directed by Kasi Lemmons Films set in Washington, D.C. Films shot in Toronto Films about radio people Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films Focus Features films Sidney Kimmel Entertainment films Films scored by Terence Blanchard African-American biographical dramas 2007 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films