Talk To Me Speaks Wonders

In the business, they say, “To have a good hero, you’ve got to have a good villain.” And that can’t be more true in the classical sense than in “Talk to Me.”

It’s a story of Petey Greene, played by Don Cheadle, the outrageous talk show host who “cons” his way into a job at an influential D.C. radio station during the Civil Rights Movement.

Once there, Petey proves to be nothing short of a pain in the ass, although when things get rough, the station soon finds out, a man with a voice is better than none at all.

Station executive Dewey Hughes, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, is all for controversy if it draws listeners, but keeping this short fuse from lighting up is more than he bargained for.

That said, it would seem that Petey Greene is the main character in this film, with Dewey nothing but a speed bump in his road to stardom, but in fact, if you take a closer look, you’ll find that Dewey is the protagonist.

Petey invades Dewey’s turf. Wild and careless, Petey pushes Dewey to change. Petey is, by the end of the movie, the one who has Dewey saying, “Talk to me.”

It goes to show that story structure, when used to create the best story, doesn’t have to be by the book.

This movie uses an antagonist flip to pull off a brilliantly written story strong in character, conflict and concept.

In addition to that, it’s hard enough to keep the hero and the villain in the same scenes with each other for even 25% of the movie, let along half. So, when a feature-length drama pulls off 75%, it’s worth noting -- a feat of facing off. And it’s a movie about talking, one-on-one. Isn’t that beautiful?

Enough said.