He's reckless with words, which gives Sonderling his repeated mantra, "Watch your language." People connect with him; Dewey knows this because he overhears a group at a bar talking about the show. We see hints of Greene's alcoholism and womanizing, which lead him to get closer to Dewey after Vernell kicks him out of the house one night. Lemmons and the screenwriters are smart in the way they portray the steady, growing respect between the two men. It builds naturally, almost unnoticeable, until eventually the two become business partners as well.

Beforehand, though, comes the film's most effective scene, as the station learns of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Greene stays on the radio the entire night; outside, D.C. is in turmoil. Lemmons captures the sense of community that arises from the chaos with such sincerity it's a poignantly realized sequence. Lemmons and editor Terilyn A. Shropshire keep events moving at a brisk pace, and the timeline exists on an intuitive level—years pass without any acknowledgement of where we are. Greene and Dewey move on, and characters disappear without any acknowledgement either. Scenes of success blend with scenes of struggle, and while the relationship between Dewey and Greene and Greene's own discomfort with fame (capitulated to on his scheduled appearance on "The Tonight Show") keep things focused to a degree, the film becomes a string of events without as much connection to the characters. Things between the two men, so obvious without being spoken, are verbalized, and only remnants of the subtlety remain. Most of it belongs to Chiwetel Ejiofor, whose effortless performance hints that his attempts with Greene are fuelled by his own fear of having failed his brother.

Then there is Greene himself: a man who wants to do what he loves and has no idea how to handle the success that results. He may be an important figure, but Talk to Me has the respect to see him without idolizing eyes. Or as Vernell says of him, "He's just a guy who likes to run his mouth, and people respond to it."