Sunday, July 4, 2021

Palmer (2021)

IMDb plot summary: An ex-convict strikes up a friendship with a boy from a troubled home.
Directed by Fisher Stevens. Starring Justin Timberlake, Juno Temple, Alisha Wainwright, and Ryder Allen.

There are some good scenes, characters, and themes in here, although it's all overshadowed a little bit by how VERY hard it seems to be working for a Best Actor nomination for Justin Timberlake. His dramatic monologue in the courthouse (which ultimately serves little narrative purpose) was such an obviously forced "Best Actor" moment that I found it distracting. There are a lot of pieces of this that feel forced, particularly toward the end, when the film scrambles to get everything in order for the conclusion. But so many of the little pieces actually ARE well done -- I like many individual scenes, and I like how the trope of "falling back in with an old crowd" takes on different meanings than in most crime movies. Not a bad watch, but it's got its flaws.

How it entered my Flickchart:
Palmer > Frank
Palmer < Dark Passage
Palmer < Being John Malkovich
Palmer > Natural Born Killers
Palmer < Police Story
Palmer < The Tourist
Palmer > You Can Count on Me
Palmer < The Trouble With Harry
Palmer > State and Main
Palmer > Sweet Charity
Palmer < The Help
Final spot: #1447 out of 3394, or 57%.

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