Kids can be highly resilient and very forgiving. While they have the ability to see through an adult’s crumbling façade, most of the time they will choose to look away, or keep searching for positivity.

For young Sam (Ryder Allen), he only sees a potential new friend in the recently-rehabilitated Eddie Palmer (Justin Timberlake). Sam doesn’t care to know the cold truth in Eddie’s story, one that includes 12 years of prison. After all, Sam’s life is equally, if not more troubled. His drug-addicted mother (a fiery Juno Temple) ran off on one of her “trips,” and her taste in men is about as worse as the illegal substances she puts in her body. Eddie is a way out for Sam, but what if the kid is actually the epiphany for the older man as well?

Here’s the thing. Timberlake and Allen are the reason for me to recommend Fisher Stevens’ compassionate new film, “Palmer.” On paper, it looks like an easy first down. Get the likeable lead in Timberlake, find a cute kid, and tell a redemption story. But Stevens goes extra rural, and wraps the story up in a lived-in blanket, which really allows the story to sink into you. Pardon the football analogy. Eddie happens to be a former high school quarterback, which is the popular movie seasoning for ex-parolee finds new life tales.

But it’s what the two actors do with Cheryl Guerriero’s script that makes Stevens’ film a big recommendation. A movie that I don’t just admire (ahem, “Malcolm & Marie”), but one that will make the audience feel good without too much manipulation. Sometimes, the syrupy dramatics can drown out the authenticity in a movie set up like “Palmer,” but it never happens here.

Eddie and Sam don’t become quick friends, or instantly plant roses in each other’s collective futures. Their friendship grows naturally and is well-earned by the time Eddie first gets into a bar fight over his young friend, a boy who acquires the highly unfortunate “different” tag school bullies tend to place on the kid who doesn’t wish to be a quarterback. The bullying aspect, along with other key elements that are best kept secret until you hit “play yourself,” is a nice subtle surprise in Guerriero’s screenplay.

Stevens, who once described himself as “a white Jewish kid from Chicago,” doesn’t direct feature films often these days (he directed a documentary about eco-friendly race cars in 2019), which makes his need to tell this particular story all the interesting. You can tell when a movie has a recruited feel to it, or when it’s genuinely lived inside someone’s bones for years. Stevens, who changed his first name due to a Steven Fisher already being in the Screen Actors Guild, doesn’t beat you over the head with the morals of his characters, but you get the feeling reality isn’t too far away.

This is Timberlake’s best work yet, and that’s not a quick flyover of his previous work. From “Alpha Dog” to “The Social Network,” he’s always been a charismatic and highly likeable screen presence, but Eddie Palmer allows him to dig into a role for one of the first times. Being the lead in a homegrown movie is where actors stand out in a good or bad way, and Timberlake hits all the high notes here. His interactions with Allen, who is way too talented for this being his first movie, are soulfully sweet and honest. 

The earnestness in Sam brings out the goodness in Eddie that could keep him out of trouble-but certain things get in the way of course, like real life often does. One of those things is Temple’s troubled addict, who throws a predictable wrench into Eddie and Sam’s relationship. I don’t have to get a pencil out to draw a map towards the finale, but believe me you’ll feel its impact.

By the time acclaimed artist Nathaniel Rateliff starts singing his powerful track, “Redemption,” you’ll know the emotional wallop is coming. The difference here is that it is so earned, due to the panache of Stevens’ direction and the lead acting duo, that you are glad the time was spent taking it all in.

“Palmer” is currently available exclusively via Apple TV+.