Here, in a new film for 2021, is Palmer, starring Justin Timberlake as the handsome, rich and talented Justin Timberlake, who plays the role of a true-hearted man who has been in prison for 12 years.

After 12 years in prison, Eddie Palmer (Justin Timberlake) is finally paroled and released. He has returned to his hometown, a small town in Louisiana. Like many towns in the American South, it is quiet – the most lively part of town on a weekday is the high school football game; conservative – almost everyone believes in Christ and the occasion to see the most friends and family is the weekly Sunday church service .

Palmer was the star quarterback of the town’s high school football team, which earned him a full scholarship to Louisiana State University (LSU) – a team that was selected by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), the highest level of college football in the United States, due to a combination of strength and luck.

However, twelve years ago, this promising college student was sent to prison after a misstep. He was with some “friends” when they broke into the house of a wealthy young friend and stole from him. Based on their usual information, they thought no one was home at the time, but the owner suddenly returned and took out a gun on them. So Palmer beat the other man up so badly that he almost killed him (rugby players are strong), protecting his friends and paying the price for it himself.

Now, at last, he is free. Only, the new life that is about to begin seems, well, full of unknowns – twelve years later, home, is it still the same as before? Will he be able to find a job, as he was warned by the magistrate before his parole? Will people accept him or will they still treat him as a dangerous person?

But in any case, he is finally home, even though it is actually his grandmother Vivian’s home. Palmer’s mother, a drug addict, left home when he was five and never returned, so his grandmother actually played the role of mother in his life; his father died when he was in high school.

It appears that nothing has changed at his grandmother’s house, except for the addition of a salvaged caravan a few steps away, which is home to the boy Sam (Sam) and his mother Shelly (Shelly) and her mother’s boyfriend Jerry (Jerry).

Grandma says Shelly is a troublemaker, and soon Palmer realises this too. The next-door neighbours, Shelly’s drug addiction, Jerry’s constant anger and cursing, and Sam, the little boy who loves dolls, princess stories and a little blue hairpin on his head! This last is particularly difficult to understand in the eyes of the straight man, Palmer.

But Grandma loved Sam and was even happy to let him sleep in the living room of her house. So it was only natural that Sam should become part of the Palmer family after Shelly and Jerry had once again left without saying goodbye.

After being rejected over and over again, Palmer finally finds a job as a school caretaker, although the supervisor does not trust him enough to hand him the keys. However, joy is soon replaced by sadness – his grandmother passes away in her sleep and, piously, leaves a will to donate the house to the church.

In this way, Palmer seemed once again to be in a difficult position. Once the house was sold, he had to move out within a month; the bigger dilemma was that no one knew when Shelley would be back. So, the question arises – what about the little boy Sam?

The first thing the older man, Palmer, thought of doing was to throw the little boy to the police. And he did, ignoring little Sam’s cries behind him. But, perhaps remembering his own childhood and the insecurity of his mother’s lack of love, he hesitated in the very moment he intended to drive away. Lighting a cigarette, walking around anxiously – these are the details that reveal the man’s inner struggle. In the end, he finally brought Sam back home.

At the beginning of his time with Sam, Palmer tries to ‘correct’ Sam’s ‘gender-bending’ behaviour by asking him if there are any boy characters in the princess cartoons and he says no. Palmer then asks what this means and he says it means he can be the first boy character – I couldn’t help but laugh at this.

Sam’s girlish mannerisms and interests are very obvious – he usually likes to have tea parties with a female classmate; and when preparing his Halloween costume, he refuses Palmer’s advice and resolutely chooses a princess costume instead. Because of this ‘abnormality’, Sam is bullied by other boys at school, when Palmer stands up to him and warns the boy. On Halloween, when Sam, having had his make-up smeared on his face, ran home crying that it was Palmer’s friend who had done this to him, Palmer immediately acted like a father and ran off to give his teenage friend a hard time.

Gradually, he went from being compelled at first to genuinely caring and loving the boy, but, because of his previous convictions, not everyone believed him.

The school headmaster asked Sam privately if Palmer had behaved ‘badly’ with him; a woman in the shop warned Palmer to report him to Child Protection; and when the custody battle was underway, despite Palmer’s pleas, and Tanzanian’s doubts that he could start again until now when he finally felt he could be a good person again, the judge still insisted that Sam would be placed with another family ……

Luckily, Shelly returns just in time to fight for custody of Sam, but, once again, a tyrannical Jerry verbally abuses the little boy, calling him a “queer” (meaning a pussy). At this point, Shelly’s motherly love comes out – even though she is reluctant, reason tells her that it is in the best interests of the child for Sam to live with Palmer, so she finally decides to give him up for adoption.

Sam asked Palmer what it meant to be “cool” and Palmer replied, “different”. At that moment, I couldn’t help but praise Palmer – what a “cool” answer!

Apart from all the bad stuff, another heartwarming thread of the film is Palmer’s relationship with Maggie, Sam’s teacher. They talk to each other about their past, Maggie helps Palmer sort through a huge pile of mail, and they go to court together to fight for custody of Sam. …… In every scene, the two seem to be “natural” together, so it’s only natural that they get together later.

At the beginning of the film, we can see that the overall tone is a little darker, but as Palmer comes to terms with Sam’s unusual preferences, the tone begins to warm up. This is especially true when Palmer puts aside his “straight” thinking and stops “correcting” Sam, stopping him from thinking “that’s not what boys do” and instead privately applying for the boy’s Instead, he privately applies for a membership to the Princess Club and gives him a big surprise, allowing him to wear a pink princess dress, which is arguably the most colourful scene in the whole film and Palmer’s highlight.

When Sam asks Palmer if he’s “cool”, Palmer doesn’t answer in the affirmative, only that he’s definitely different, and here we get a sense that the “uncertainty” shared by the two men is somehow connected from the inside.

Throughout the film, there is very little dramatic conflict, except for Palmer’s argument for custody of Sam and his willingness to fix his old friends for Sam’s grievances on Halloween. It would have been more in keeping with the family film standard if there hadn’t been so many f**k words and “see you in the flesh” sex scenes.

Also, I personally found the details of the character of grandmother Vivian, who doesn’t appear much, to be very realistic.

For example, the pious one, when welcoming Palmer home, makes a condition – staying here is fine, but she must go to church with her every Sunday; for example, she insists that Palmer returns from a shopping trip to the shop and hands her back the wrong amount of change, even though both Palmer and Sam say it is correct; for example, when Palmer wakes up late, the grandmother nags him along the way, complaining that he is even late for his church activities ……

Do these scenes make you think of your own grandmother?

As for the film’s shortcomings, there are, in my opinion, two main points.

Shortly after the opening scene, Palmer and Shelly roll in bed. In my opinion, this is too cheesy to have any relevance to the later plot, and even if it were taken out, it wouldn’t affect the story in any way. So, presumably this scene was put in place just to add a bit of “gimmickry” to this “small” film?

Secondly, as far as I can tell, the film is a bit ‘idealistic’ on the subject of ‘gender deviance’.

I live in a small southern town that is just as conservative as Palmer’s hometown, and I am surrounded by folks who, like Palmer’s neighbours and friends, are deeply entrenched in the idea of ‘gender stereotyping’.

One of my in-laws (both in their seventies) had a high school friend who, like Sam, liked to dress up as a woman. At the time they were growing up, such behaviour was not allowed. So, he hid it well, except for remaining unmarried. It was only after his mother’s death over twenty years ago that he gradually let himself go. Today, people in the town see him almost every day, in a woman’s dress, pushing a pram (with a replica doll sitting inside), walking alone in the street.

I don’t think the situation now, either, is any better than it was in those days.

A few years ago, the daughter of a friend of mine was always dressed as a cool ‘tomboy’ at the high school in our town and was therefore isolated at school and no one wanted to be friends with her. This kind of invisible “bullying” is actually worse than scolding because you can hardly find substantial “evidence”. As my daughter became more and more silent and depressed, my friend was worried and complained to me several times. Luckily, an agency in Las Vegas offered my friend’s husband (who is a photographer) a job, so they moved there. It was certainly more open and inclusive and the smile returned to the girl’s face.

If you put aside the harsh reality, this film, by and large, could be considered a heartwarming and loving piece of work. I’m just not sure that the real-life Palmer’s would have had such a good chance of regaining the high points of their lives.