By: Lana K. Wilson-Combs
Singer/producer
Justin Timberlake has been carving out an impressive film career starring in movies such as Clint Eastwood’s “Trouble with The Curve,” “Wonder Wheel,” The Social Network,” “Inside Llewyn Davis,” “Friends with Benefits” and jumped into animation with “Trolls”/”Trolls World Tour.”
Timberlake shows off his acting chops again in his latest movie,
“Palmer,” from actor, turned director
Fisher Stevens (“And We Go Green”) and screenwriter Cheryl Guerriero (“Hunting Season”).
In “Palmer,” Timberlake plays Eddie Palmer, an ex-con and former Louisiana State University football star who served 12 years in prison.
Eddie (Timberlake) has done his time and is returning home to Louisiana looking for a fresh start. He can always count on a warm welcome from his grandmother Vivian (June Squibb, (“Godmothered” and “Soul”) who raised him, but not by a lot of other people in this small town who still view him with suspicion.
Eddie can barely get a job as a janitor at the local elementary school because no one initially wants to take a chance hiring an ex-con. He’s able to convince the school principal, (J.D. Evermore, TV’s “The Purge”) that he’s a different guy and Principal Forbes gives him a shot. Apparently, those LSU ties run deep.
Just when it seems that Eddie is making a real effort to change--he’s even agreed to go to church every Sunday with his grandma--mayhem gets in the way.
Eddie notices Vivian’s rental trailer next door and the young woman named Shelly (Juno Temple, TV’s “Ted Lasso”) living in it. She’s a hot mess. A meth head who leaves her 8-year-old son Sam (debut of Ryder Allen) alone for days while out on a bender and sometimes lets the kid stay with her abusive boyfriend, Jerry (Dean Winters, the “Mayhem” guy from those Allstate Commercials).
Sam is different, but he’s a good kid. He certainly deserves a lot better than the losers he’s living with. Shelly and Eddie share a romp, but Eddie realizes it’s a mistake, but not before he starts to bond with little Sam.
When Grandma Vivian dies, Eddie must decide whether he’ll step up for Sam or let him become a foster child.
Fortunately, Eddie finds encouragement and support from Sam’s teacher, Maggie (Alisha Wainwright, TV’s Shadowhunters”) and they become a little more than friends.
Palmer is taken by Sam and their friendship blossoms. Both begin to understand each other’s anguish and how it feels to be different and an outcast.
Justin Timberlake is the steady force that holds “Palmer” together and the movie doesn’t become overly sentimental or preachy about acceptance and inclusion.
Squibb shines too and brings authenticity and levity to “Palmer.” The film’s other bright spot is Ryder Allen, who seems poised for even bigger and better things.
"Palmer" debuts on AppleTV+ Jan. 29
Editor's Note: Be sure to catch my N2Entertainment.net movie talk segment on the Kitty O'Neal Show Fridays at 6:20 p.m. on radio station KFBK 93.1 FM and 1530 AM.
Watch This Trailer For
"PALMER"
Lana K. Wilson-Combs is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics' Association (BFCA), The Black Film Critics Circle (BFCC) and a Nominating Committee Voting Member for the NAACP Image Awards.
