Talk to Me Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		4.0

Talk to Me Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson April 8, 2020

In the first two decades of his varied filmography, Don Cheadle largely played characters whom critics commonly described as "restrained." In Talk to Me, it's a pleasure to see the Oscar-nominated actor explode with the energy and charisma that his fans had long waited for. While Cheadle was originally slated to appear in the film, he wasn't the top choice to portray Washington, DC radio DJ Ralph "Petey" Greene. Director Kasi Lemmons stated during the movie's press junket that Terrence Howard was tapped to play Petey but the Hustle & Flow star dropped out six months into pre-production to join another project. A previously non-committal Lemmons had read a draft of the script two years earlier and decided to jump on board after scribes Michael Genet and Rick Famuyiwa refined this true story about the love/hate friendship between Petey and radio program director Dewey Hughes.

As Talk to Me opens, Petey (Don Cheadle) is in the middle of serving a ten-year sentence for burglary in a correctional facility based in Lorton, VA. Petey is every inmates' fan because they get to listen to his entertaining voice on the prison radio as he broadcasts from the warden's anteroom. Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor), who works for DC's WOL-AM Radio, hears Petey's booming voice during the occasional visits to the prison to see his brother, Milo Hughes (Mike Epps), who's also serving time. Dewey and Petey meet around the visiting room with the WOL program director telling Petey there may be a job available for him when he gets out. When Petey is asked to persuade a fellow inmate to get down from atop a prison building, he complies and gets the man to descend without incident. With his sentence commuted and out of jail, Petey and his sassy girlfriend, Vernell Watson (Taraji P. Henson), arrive at WOL headquarters in flamboyant wardrobes. Petey claims to the station's secretary that Dewey has a DJ job waiting for him right then and there but a flabbergasted Dewey says that was a misunderstanding. WOL station chief E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen) is even more frazzled and apoplectic, ordering Petey and his lady out of the building. A lot of jostling and back-and-forth ensues between the parties with Petey literally fighting to get in the studio and give his shtick. Dewey plays a trick on E.G. and DJ "Nighthawk" Bob Terry (Cedric the Entertainer) by locking them in their rooms. Petey has some false starts and stops during his initial broadcast but his streetwise rhetoric and raconteur persona appeal to the predominantly black listenership, who are stoked by Petey's calls for social justice and equality. The switchboard lights up and WOL has its man for the morning hours.

The biggest strength of Talk to Me is that it doesn't try to cover every section of Petey's life in equal chunks as biopics have traditionally done. Instead, it presents well-drawn character studies of the successful but fractious relationship between Petey and Dewey. Petey teases his station programmer that he's like a "white boy with a tan" because his persona is not unlike Sidney Poitier's character of Mr. Tibbs, who is just as palatable to a white audience as it is to a black one. Petey is akin to a rebellious Blaxploitation character who radically breaks all rules and mores.

Where the film occasionally falters is when it breaks away from that relationship to focus on Dewey's own DJ stint. It also leaves out some of the worthwhile philanthropic causes Petey devoted his life to. Talk to Me is worth seeing simply to hear Petey's voice after riots and looting have decimated urban DC in the wake of MLK's assassination. Petey is able find the most eloquent words to calm a stunned populace that's reeling from an unspeakable tragedy.

Talk to Me Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Shout Select has brought Talk to Me on Blu-ray on this MPEG-4 AVC-encoded BD-50. Kasi Lemmons's third feature was released by Universal on HD-DVD in 2007 using the VC-1 codec and on Blu-ray in 2010 in the UK. Appearing in its original exhibition ratio of 2.35:1, this appears sourced from presumably the same 2K scan that's been used on the other editions. The image showcases '60s and '70s wardrobes (e.g., Yellow Submarine clothes), period locales, and DC landmarks. There's very good detail on faces (e.g., see Screenshot #s 4 and 16). The picture is a bit flat and soft at times. Very few source-related artifacts mar the print. Shout has encoded the feature at a mean video bitrate of 36000 kbps.

Sixteen scene selections accompany the nearly two-hour film.

Talk to Me Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Shout supplies a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround mix (3092 kbps, 24-bit) and a downsampled DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0.1 mix (1628 kbps, 24-bit). I just listened to the uncompressed 5.1 mix, which sprinkles about a dozen R&B and Soul ballads on the non-diegetic sound track. These sound rich and dynamic. Also, listen and watch for a re-created performance by the "Godfather of Soul." Cheadle's voice comes across as loud and career on the microphone as well on the bullhorn. DC traffic noise provides nice spatial ambience. Terrence Blanchard's musical underscore is subtle and frequently hardly noticed. Its instrumentation alternates and complements the rhythm of the songs.

Optional English SDH can be switched on through the main menu or via remote activation.

Talk to Me Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All of the extras are taken from the Full Screen/Widescreen and HD DVD editions (sans the trailer) of Talk to Me, all released in 2007.

• Who Is Petey Greene? Featurette (10:13, 1080p) - this featurette includes interviews with actors Taraji P. Henson, Mike Epps, Cedric the Entertainer, Martin Sheen, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Don Cheadle, as well as director Kasi Lemmons, producer Josh McLaughlin, and executive producer J. Miles Dale. It mixes in B-roll footage with scenes from the film. In English, not subtitled.

• Recreating P-Town Featurette (11:08, 1080p) - a behind-the-scenes featurette containing more interview snippets with McLaughlin, Henson, Ejiofor, Dale, as well as costume designer Gersha Phillips and production designer Warren Alan Young. In English, not subtitled.

• Deleted Scenes (8:33, upscaled to 1080i) - a compilation of a half-dozen excised scenes: "We're Not the Celtics", "Sonderling After the Riot", "What Were You Thinking?", "Dress Rehearsal", "Six Months" and "Walt Whitman High School". They're presented in 2.35:1 and upconverted from a SD source.

• Theatrical Trailer (3:28, 1080p) - the longer trailer of Talk to Me is shown in anamorphic widescreen. The Region B from Verve Pictures has two shorter trailers.

Talk to Me Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's a great thing that the makers of Talk to Me eventually brought Petey Greene's life to the screen since he was known primarily in the Washington DC area as the mouthpiece for the dispossessed or disenfranchised. If you want to know more about him, I advise you seek out the nearly hour-long PBS documentary, Adjust Your Color: The Truth of Petey Greene (2008; narrated by Don Cheadle) and the 2003 book, Laugh If You Like, Ain't a Damn Thing Funny: The Life Story of Ralph ''Petey'' Greene as Told to Lurma Rackley. It's notable how the star power of the two leads has mushroomed since the film's release. Chiwetel Ejiofor certainly wasn't that well-known back in '07 and has probably chosen more indie vehicles than commercial ones. Cheadle's star soared to meteoric heights with The Avengers series and he's performed in more comedies and action thrillers as well. I hope Kasi Lemmons receives more directing offers because her talent is unquestioned. Shout Select's transfer is solid and serviceable for the source material used. Extras duplicate all video releases. A VERY SOLID RECOMMENDATION.