In October 2010, The Observer’s Irina Aleksander made a bold prediction: that Justin Timberlake would someday quite soon be a movie star. It was right there in the headline: “Justin Timberlake, Movie Star.” It remained to be seen quite how well his performance in The Social Network might fare with audiences, critics, and Oscar voters. The answer was 66.67 percent of a resounding yes–Oscar would have to wait! (The portrait illustrating the article, for reasons obscure, still hangs on the newsroom wall.) However, this weekend’s Friends With Benefits–if enthusiasticish reviews and Mr. Timberlake’s inescapable but still ingratiating presence–seems to have proven this newspaper’s thesis correct!
In 2010, this paper’s Timberlake article wrote about an embarrassing incident during which a young woman spent a little too much time speaking to him, congratulating him on his acting prowess despite his pop-singer pedigree. He is really uncomfortable! In the Times‘s profile of the singer-turned-actor pegged to the release of Friends With Benefits, Mr. Timberlake is spied upon by a group of young women who probably remember ‘N Sync quite well. Again, he is really uncomfortable! Probably he should begin getting used to it, as there are many more profiles and (our prediction was true!) many more movies to come.
ddaddario@observer.com :: @DPD_
