On the other is Petey, rolling in on a tide of ghetto attitude, accompanied by his girlfriend, Vernell (Taraji P. Henson), a woman with a very big Afro and a very small dress. This kind of standoff between hip and square - Sonderling purses his lips and says "What in blue blazes?
"; Petey rolls his eyes and utters words you can t say on the radio - was probably a clich even in 1967. And of course Dewey, whom Petey calls Mr. Tibbs in mocking reference to Sidney Poitier s role in "In the Heat of the Night," is an easy target for blacker-than-thou derision.
His demeanor and ambition mark him as an inauthentic black man, a sellout. But "Talk to Me" starts out broad and schematic only to surprise you with its subtlety as it unfolds. Conveying the passage of time through the usual shorthand of clothes, hairstyles and vintage pop music, the movie nonetheless steers clear of the usual biopic conventions.
Petey may be the charismatic, self-destructive center of attention - and Cheadle is as engaging and resourceful as ever - but the drama resides in his sometimes volatile, always closely observed partnership with Dewey. "You say the things I m afraid to say," Dewey remarks, "and I do the things you re afraid to do." While Petey brushes this off as greeting-card hooey, "Talk to Me" explores the idea of their symbiosis in a nuanced and insightful manner.
As soon as he takes the microphone as a morning disc jockey, Petey connects with his listeners, and his breakthrough moment comes when he helps to calm the city s streets after the rioting that followed the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Dewey, who becomes Petey s manager, pushes his friend and client toward ever bigger stardom. His ambition causes a rift between them, and their relationship captures a basic tension within African-American popular culture.
Dewey, you might say, is eager to cross over, a desire represented by his dream of seeing Petey on "The Tonight Show" with Johnny Carson. Petey, for his part, is uncomfortable straying too far from the public that sustains him. His mantra is "Keep it real.
" The sentimental way to tell the story would be to sneer at Dewey while painting Petey as an uncompromising hero. The filmmakers and the actors, thankfully, are too smart and too honest to go that route. While they pay homage to Petey s militant, confrontational stance and to his hometown loyalty, they also respect Dewey s discipline and his drive toward self-improvement.
To its great credit, "Talk to Me" doesn t ask the audience to choose a side, but rather to appreciate the strengths and limitations of both men. Back to top On the other is Petey, rolling in on a tide of ghetto attitude, accompanied by his girlfriend, Vernell (Taraji P.
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