To say I miss good film is a bit of an understatement. It’s not like a year of COVID has made all the films bad; I’ve enjoyed several in this span. Yet all the same, I feel like it has been an absolute eternity since I truly cared about a character or a relationship. I can’t remember the last time I rooted for a happy ending or pleaded for a character on screen not to do the thing I know he’s going to do. I got really wrapped up in Palmer and I think most open-minded people will follow suit.
The remarkable thing about Palmer is the film has a very similar setup to many that have not moved me. A parolee returns to his white trash backwater in order to put his life back together. All the backwater trash care about is religion and football –neither of which are terrific movie topics- and Palmer (Justin Timberlake) is immediately immersed in both thanks to his history of gridiron heroics and a God-squading grandmother (June Squibb). Nothing about the first ten minutes suggested I was going to love this film. At all.
Next door to grandma’s house is a trailer occupied by the world’s worst mom (Juno Temple) and her odd child, Sam (Ryder Allen). Timberlake’s parole sex with Temple didn’t exactly grab me, but it got me to pay attention to the scenes that followed, and this is where Palmer became the kind of film I recommend to people. Sam is a boy, to be sure, an adorable and life-positive boy, but the kind of boy who grows up to march in a pride parade while others comment, “Oh sure. I saw it coming; he was always like that.” Sam doesn’t care about football or posturing or petty vandalism like most boys. Sam enjoys cookies by the handful and watching a princess cartoon on TV. He likes wearing lipstick and hairclips and tiaras. He isn’t just a beta or omega male in training; Sam has no grasp on alpha behavior.
Well, as you know, kids just love it when their peers indulge in gender-bending behavior. It makes them feel all warm and cozy. Oh, and not just kids! Football-loving and ultra-religious adults can’t get enough of androgyny. It’s fair to say they live for that shit.
Now, this is no big deal, right? I mean, Palmer, himself trained to be a classic alpha, just has to play nice, keep his head down, say, “yes, sir” a lot, and the rest will take care of itself. Oh, but Sam prefers the company of grandma Squibb. OK. Oh, and Temple up-and-leaves essentially making grandma Sam’s defacto parent. OK. Oh, and then grandma dies. Sorry for the spoiler, but it is essential for the understanding of the magic of this picture. On the one hand, there’s Palmer – an ex-con free on parole who has grown up understanding football and violence in that order. And on the other, there’s an effeminate child who doesn’t understand football or violence but desperately needs a real parent in his [read “their”] life.
And Palmer is exactly that parent. Not that he knows it. Not that he should know it. We suspect it, but mostly we’re fascinated by the struggle.
Palmer could have been a cheesy buddy picture or a cliché “getting your life together” picture. And instead it was a deep understanding 
of human need and human connection buoyed by a monumental performance; Justin Timberlake has not only never been better; I’d be hard-pressed to imagine a “looks the part” actor I think would have done as reasonable a job. Bradley Cooper, maybe? Mahershala Ali, maybe? The role of Palmer requires tiptoeing in a minefield of unsupportive bigotry, stereotypical behavior in need of reflection, and a crash-course on quality parenting. How easy is it be the high school football hero who has to deal with a Barbie-doll owning boy child? Now, how easy is it to play that role and give the audience an inner look in Palmer’s mind without a great deal of dialogue to help us out?
The relationship between Palmer and Sam is one of my favorites of all time. I can only fault this film in not better hinting to us how Palmer could have become the father figure we see on screen. This is a wonderful film and exactly right for the time we live in.
When children give adults a gender clue
Their elders should be aware of what to do
Shouldn’t have to explain
It calls for humane
You don’t need a high LGBT IQ
Rated R, 110 Minutes
Director: Fisher Stevens
Writer: Cheryl Guerriero
Genre: Define parenting
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People with a heart
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: MAGA
