Talk to Me | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | Kasi Lemmons |
Produced by | Don Cheadle |
Written by |
Michael Genet Rick Famuyiwa |
Starring | Don Cheadle Chiwetel Ejiofor Taraji P. Henson Cedric the Entertainer Mike Epps |
Music by | Terence Blanchard |
Cinematography | Stéphane Fontaine |
Edited by | Kenny Marsten |
Distributed by | Focus Features |
Release date
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Running time
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118 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $4,778,376 |
Talk to Me is a 2007 biographical film about Washington, D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist, and Dewey Hughes, his friend and manager. The movie spans the time period May 1966 to January 1984, ending with the late Greene's memorial service.
The film premiered as the opening night film of the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, on June 22, 2007. It opened in North America in a limited release on July 13, 2007 and nationwide on August 3, 2007. The film was shot in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and Washington, DC.
The film received favorable reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 82% based on reviews from 126 critics. On Metacritic, the film had an average score of 69%, based on 32 reviews.
The film has been criticized for allegedly not being true to the details of his life and career and for inventing incidents and rearranging locations, such as Petey's appearance on The Tonight Show, which never actually took place.
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, such as showing Dewey Hughes giving a moving eulogy at Petey's wake, when in reality Hughes did not even attend the funeral.
In response to these criticisms, producer Joe Fries responded that the film was merely "inspired by" Greene and not a factual recounting of his life.