Justin Timberlake is not kidding in this movie
His role in Palmer shows how children can cut through bigotry and changes lives for the better
I have a confession — I am a fan of American singer Justin Timberlake. His funk-soul music reminds me of Michael Jackson.
As a white singer, Timberlake stays in his lane. Although he sings in a genre many would consider black music, he does not come across as trying to appropriate black culture.
He does not dress and speak like a “wanna-be urban gangsta”. You know the type — they say “aks” instead of ask, wear stereotypical hip-hop-type clothing and so forth. Complete pseudos!
But did you know that Timberlake released a new album in mid-March, titled Everything I Thought It Was? I vaguely recollect an interview on the BBC’s The Graham Norton Show, when he also performed a song off the album, but it got no airplay of any real significance.
This is not the first time there has been a lack of traction for Timberlake’s musical offerings. In 2018 he released a country album Man of the Woods, which he described as “Americana with 808s” (a famous drum machine manufactured in the early 1980s).
But, unlike his first three albums, Justified (2002), Future Sex/Love Sounds (2006) and The 20/20 Experience (2013), Man of the Woods generated little critical excitement.
It is not that these two most recent albums were bad. It is just that they were quite forgettable and, for me, had no standout tracks.
In 2021, smack-bang in the middle of the pandemic, the Fisher Stevens-directed movie Palmer starring Timberlake was released, also to no fanfare or meaningful coverage.
The reviews were iffy. On Metacritic, it scored an average of 53 out of 100, based on 21 critics.
Timberlake takes the part of Eddie Palmer, who was once a star high school quarterback but is now a recently released convict on parole.
So, it’s a life with not much to write home about. It is set in a typical mid-West Bible Belt one-horse town. Its one bar plays country music and everyone drives a pick-up truck.
The school janitor is an old black gent while the principal is white.
When Palmer’s grandmother dies, he gets stuck with Sam (played by Ryder Allen), an abandoned, gender-confident 10-year-old boy. Palmer becomes his temporary guardian.
In the movie, the way Timberlake looks, he would not seem out of place at a Trump rally. Note, not his views, purely his looks, because he could easily pass for what is referred to as “trailer trash” or “redneck”.
It is a far cry from his Señorita and SexyBack days, where he would not have been out of place in a Prince music video. We need to recall Timberlake has played the white hip-hop poseur in movies such as Alpha Dog and a sex symbol in several other movies. But, in Palmer, Timberlake does not seem out of place in conservative middle America.
A lot of the movie revolves around Palmer and his discomfort with Sam, who seems to be gay, and is not scared to show it. Sam is openly effeminate, wears colourful hair clips, loves make-up, plays with dolls, shows an affinity for hairdressing and has tea parties with girls.
As I watched Palmer squirming and looking as if his entire understanding of life is being threatened, my mind wandered from what I expected would be Hollywood’s sugarcoating of very real social challenges back to the time when I stayed in the south of Gauteng. It was in the early days of the post-apartheid era. My young family moved into a posh, suburban townhouse complex in the heart of the Vaal Triangle, in the industrial town of Vereeniging.
The complex had a communal pool, with a braai area and tennis court. At times, it felt like we had arrived. A far cry from the Group Areas Act areas we had grown up in.
Most of the families in the complex were white, mainly Afrikaners. One day, while in the pool with my son and daughter, a five-year-old blonde girl turned around and, in a hushed tone, said: “My mommy does not like me playing with kaffertjies.”
I was gobsmacked. I did the usual and tried to educate her about how wrong the word was and how her mommy was wrong to refer to anyone using that word.
And, as I watched Palmer’s discomfort, I thought of that little white girl — she must be in her late twenties now. How would she handle it if her boss was black? Or, heaven forbid (sarcasm intended), if she fell in love with a black person? What would that do to the lives of her parents?
Yes, we must deal with the racists, homophobes, the generally sick of mind. But do not for a second think their evil ways will triumph. And that’s how life gets you to change. Your children’s choices will force you to change. You might not want to be open and honest with yourself but children have a way of ensuring that your bad ways are tested and exposed. (Spoiler alert: Timberlake’s romantic interest in Palmer is black.)
Donovan E Williams is a social commentator. Follow him on X/Twitter @TheSherpaZA.