A mostly successful comedy and social drama, Talk to Me focuses on the colorful life of Petey Green, the Washington D.C. African-American disc jockey who became legendary for not only spinning records, but for keeping it real over the airwaves throughout the turbulent ’60s and early ’70s. With mustache, sideburns and flamboyant period threads, Don Cheadle truly inhabits the role of Green, while the always interesting Chiwetel Ejiofor (Inside Man, Kinky Boots) portrays station program director Dewey Hughes, who also becomes Green’s manager and tries to spin the DJ’s gift of gab into a flow of green. Director Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou)—who gets the period stuff just right and elicits fine performances from co-stars Martin Sheen and Cedric the Entertainer—centers the majority of the drama on the tension between streetwise Green and business-like Hughes. The meshing of serious and satirical is not always smooth, but there are some memorable dramatic highs (a sequence involving the assassination of Martin Luther King) and sharp comical work by the entire cast.

Shelf Talk: Talk to Me got great advance buzz and lots of nice reviews but didn’t add the screens it needed to become a hit. More than likely, it will garner a strong following on DVD and is likely to find the crossover audience it deserves. Cheadle certainly has a following and can’t be denied as an Oscar contender (he was nominated for 2004’s Hotel Rwanda), and the soundtrack of great soul music will keep audiophiles thrilled.