Singer Justin Timberlake returns to the movies on Apple TV + in the catchy drama “Palmer,” based in Louisiana about an ex-con who becomes an unlikely father figure.
Justin Timberlake has come to Apple TV + with his first film part in years Palmer, a slow but nonetheless effective drama that appears on Apple TV + January 29. It’s not just an elegant part for Timberlake, who doesn’t sing or dance, but is capable of the drama.
It’s not a glamorous career, and it’s just acting instead of singing and dancing as well. But he handles the drama competently, and it’s a welcome return to the screen.
For a period between 2007 and 2013, Timberlake suspended his music career to appear in a series of films, while also regularly hosting Saturday Night Live. Timberlake then returned to music and had not done much acting in the years since, except for voice concerts in the Trolls movies.
Coming home
Justin Timberlake and Ryder Allen in “Palmer,” appearing worldwide January 29, 2021 on Apple TV +.
Palmer was written by Cheryl Guerriero, in a script that was announced a few years ago on the acclaimed blacklist. It is directed by actor Fisher Stevens.
On record, Timberlake plays the title of Eddie Palmer, a high school football star who returns to downtown Louisiana after a long stint in prison. Living with his grandmother (former actress June Squibb), Palmer is reuniting with his old friends and has an early one-night stand with Shelly (Juno Temple, who is also in the Apple series TV + Ted Lasso).
After a sex scene in a trailer that is surprisingly naked and graphic by Apple standards, Shelly disappears, leaving her young, non-sex-abiding son, Sam (Ryder Allen) under care of Palmer.
Father and son
Justin Timberlake and Ryder Allen in “Palmer,” appearing worldwide January 29, 2021 on Apple TV +.
While the film feels perhaps 20 minutes longer than it needs to be, and moves slowly, it’s a strong character study. Palmer at its heart is a story about a man who is trying to overcome the violence of the past, and emerges as a father who is not like a child who is going to try hard in the past. a small village to the south.
Timberlake is performing well in a role that is not his most natural choice, and his romance with a teacher (Alisha Wainwright) is certainly sweet. The real stance in the film, however, is Ryder Allen as the young Sam, who shines in a broken role.
The film keeps the exact nature of Palmer’s crime a bit vague to about halfway through, and there are valuable points to be made about just how difficult things are for ex-cons that have been let loose. recently released. Another film, 2018’s Blindspotting, handled the same thing a little better, even forcing the crime to publish the best and most memorable part of the film.
Better Lament
Justin Timberlake, Ryder Allen and June Squibb in “Palmer,” appearing worldwide January 29, 2021 on Apple TV +.
While some of the characters are a bit one-sided – especially Dean Winters as Shelly’s one-note violent redhead – Palmer both a better film, and a far more revealing picture of small-town American life than Netflix’s recent drama Hillbilly dies.
As to his position in the wars of culture, Palmer is a film that respects the culture of the church and the South, although it also has a great deal of sympathy for the recently promised child, and for the state of a bullying child, which is not ‘harmony with gender.
He doesn’t get the rewards pushing that Cherry, the Tom Holland drama that comes to Apple TV + in March, received this year. But Palmer a successful endeavor, and a welcome back to film star Justin Timberlake.