This biopic, in which Don Cheadle plays legendary 1960s deejay “Petey” Greene, offers a double dose of charisma. This is an electric actor portraying a man who, by all accounts, lived a life of high-voltage electricity. The best parts follow Greene, an ex-con, as he talks his way onto the airwaves, where his mix of straight talk and soul music garners a following in step with the Civil Rights movement. Chiwetel Ejiofor offers solid support as a forward-thinking programming director, but director Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou) is held back by the conventional, biopic structure. There isn’t a trace of her usual atmospheric ambiguity.
