Fisher Stevens is an accomplished actor himself, and he has directed ‘Palmer,’ a film starring Justin Timberlake now streaming on Apple+. Timberlake plays Eddie Palmer, a young man who spent twelve years in jail, and is now out. He comes back to live with his grandmother, and then suddenly fives himself caring for a neighbor’s son, Sam (Ryder Allen) Sam is not your average id – he’s a young boy who has a passion for flying fairies and likes to play with dolls and make up. You can just imagine how that plays along with a hypoer masculine figure like Palmer.

The film tackles these issues with a lot of subtlety, and we see that in Timberlake’s performance. He usually annoys the heck out of me, with his frat boy mannerisms, but Stevens reigns him in – a lot, and we get to see a real character in his Palmer. Even better is we see how his character transforms – how it becomes more mature, how it learns life lessons. You believe it, and him The film is mostly told from his character’s point of view, for better or worse (I think it would have been a better film if it had explored Sam’s character more, but this isn’t that kind of movie) and we see and understand the story better because of his performance. And I give the film extra points because perhaps this could open up limited view points of Timberlake’s more conservative fan base. ‘Palmer’ is not the most important film, but it’s important enough.