Timberlake, though, gives one of his best screen performances while Ryder Allen is appealing as the doe-eyed kid, trying hard to make sense off the blundering behaviour of the adults around him and wondering why boys can’t be cheerleaders too.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jan 16, 2025

In this moving melodrama of unlikely bonds, Justin Timberlake plays a former football star and prisoner starting afresh as a school janitor...it's easy to see where this is going but you just don't mind.

| Oct 2, 2024

A heartwarming, enlightening, emotionally compelling story of redemption and self-acceptance. The wonderful bond between Justin Timberlake and Ryder Allen’s characters is the film’s heart and soul.

| Original Score: A- | Jul 24, 2023

Sometimes you want to see a specific type of movie with a fitting cast that delivers on its premise the way you imagine. With no, or very few, surprises at all. Old-timer Hollywood veteran Fisher Stevens’ nearly two-hour-long feature does precisely that.

| Jul 21, 2023

Palmer is a film that you come to for the heartfelt relationship and the strong work from the two lead actors, rather than the way it tries to take on deeper themes. It comes off as one of those films that isn’t as progressive as it tries to be...

| Original Score: C+ | May 2, 2023

Palmer is a sensitive drama about working class life in contemporary America. Nuanced performances grace this composed and patient film, a relative rarity in present-day cinema.

| Sep 22, 2022

Palmer is an uneven experience that is not as transparent as it thinks it is or needs to be.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | Sep 11, 2022

Palmer’s narrative is nothing new, but Justin Timberlake’s passionate performance makes this movie a must-watch regardless.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Sep 1, 2022

Doesn't fully embrace its queerness, but a good - if tiny - step in the right direction for representation.

| Sep 13, 2021

A fairly nondescript drama about parenthood and poverty, but it does feature a highly effective portrayal of a LGBT+ child at its centre.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 31, 2021

Through it all, Timberlake carries the film on his stooped shoulders, delivering a committed performance that works to ground the film's more maudlin tendencies.

| Jun 5, 2021

Every single beat and note in Fisher Stevens' Plamer feels familiar.

| Original Score: 2/5 | May 10, 2021

Palmer is like a placebo intended to temporarily make you feel better about the world, lying to you that every bad guy is a good guy at heart and every wrong can eventually be righted.

| Mar 28, 2021

It could be a bit corny for some, but it's a beautiful story at the end of the day. [Full review in Spanish]

| Mar 2, 2021

The storytelling is formulaic, deliberately familiar, and prosaic, sometimes frustratingly so.

| Feb 26, 2021

Whatever lessons may be learned during the course of Palmer, the film avoids feeling preachy or too heavy with messages.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Feb 21, 2021

The acting and powerful storytelling belie expectations. See it, and you will be impressed. Timberlake underplays terrifically.

| Original Score: A- | Feb 19, 2021

As directed by Fisher Stevens and performed by a first-rate cast the film is low-keyed, sincere, humanistic and occasionally shockingly tough.

| Original Score: B- | Feb 19, 2021

Palmer is terrible, it's true, but in a bland way that makes it more innocuous than offensive.

| Original Score: 1/4 | Feb 17, 2021

It's unlikely to bother the Oscars, but this really is the most heartwarming film of the past year and it's well worth 110 minutes of your time.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 17, 2021