Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids (2016) (2024)

Popular reviews

• Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 9

  97

  *'SexyBack' begins*

  "Do you want it baby?"

  My dad: "no not really."

• Review by SilentDawn ★★★★★ 6

  97/100

  Right from the opening of Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids, a concert film vividly capturing the final two performances of JT's 20/20 world tour in Las Vegas, an overwhelming surge of generosity and community is evident. The supporting musicians, dancers, stagehands, and fans never leave Timberlake's thoughts, utilizing their talents and unique gifts to fulfill his own goal of universal, joyous entertainment. It's an uproarious, cascading showcase of euphoria - both for the artist and the community who allows his nimble, intoxicating professionalism to sing without fault - and Demme captures it with a radiant, expressive eye. By turns seductive, balletic, classical, and athletic, comparable pop concert films rarely carry along an understanding of spatial/temporal excellence to its…

• Review by davidehrlich ★★★ 2

  What do David Byrne, Neil Young, and Justin Timberlake have in common? Until recently, the answer was: “As little as three white, male musicians possibly could have in common.” Now, that’s no longer the case. Because now, with the arrival of “Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids,” each of them has been the subject of at least one concert film by Jonathan Demme. Timberlake may have nine Grammy Awards to his name, but make no mistake: Being placed on equal footing with Talking Heads and a folk-rock god is the most prestigious honor of the pop superstar’s endlessly surprising career.

  It’s also one hell of an endorsem*nt. Demme is among the film world’s most knowledgeable and outspoken music freaks (a…

• Review by Josh Lewis ★★★★

  it takes a village to raise a justin

• Review by matt lynch ★★★★

  Jonathan Demme is proof of life.

• Review by Cinematic Underdogs ★★★★½

  My former review completely forgot to talk about how this concert film oddly enough turns out to be a fittingly poignant swan song for Jonathan Demme's masterful career.

  Perhaps the greatest director of this subgenre ever, with Stop Making Sense being his magmum opus, Demme is at the height of his game here. Every shot is a master-class on how to be visually versatile and incisive, while never losing intimacy with the music or performers.

  P.T. Anderson, Spike Jonze, Spike Lee, and every other auteur who dabbles in concert films owe so much to Demme's influence. Although I would have preferred if he went out with a project more along the lines of Something Wild, the celebratory, rapturous, and yet bittersweet tone of this coda more than suffices.

• Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★½ 7

  Proud to have watched this
  wonderful doc in the sweet,
  sweet city of Nashville, TN.

• Review by Calum Marsh ★★★★½

  There are some very compelling reasons to regard this as frivolous or trivial or quite beneath comment. To begin with it’s a feature-length concert special, which tend to be about as interesting aesthetically as televised college football games and which rarely aspire to any station loftier than the Special Interest aisle of your local DVD store. Nor does this concert in particular have any claim to highbrow credibility or niche intrigue: Justin Timberlake is maybe the closest thing popular music has to a matinee idol in 2016, after all, and his live show is so prodigally extravagant that it seems more Cirque du Soleil than Live at Leeds. And finally this whole slick production was engineered by Netflix, whose algorithmic…

• Review by Neil Bahadur ★★★★★

  "You guys are incredible!"

  "The Tennessee Kids" is the operative word here - Demme films solo performer as team player: so much of the films most joyous moments are when the camera lingers on the keyboard players, the bassists, the backing vocalists, the back-up dancers. The other operative word is joy: far more than the elaborate and impressive choreography of the stage-show itself, it's the grins, the happy accidents, the offhand gestures, the linking of eyes between one collaborator and another which allow for such a splendid experience - this is an intimate spectacle. But then I'm underselling Timberlake himself, equal parts seasoned professional & spontaneous rascal. But then how could I forget the sudden cut to a guitar pedal in…

• Review by Adam Kempenaar ★★★ 3

  Justin Timberlake is an entertainer of prodigious talent, with empeccable timing and a rare combination of charisma, self-confidence and humility, bolstered by a backing band and posse of performers displaying equally enviable ability.

  But we knew that.

  Jonathan Demme is a highly skilled chronicler of live spectacles.

  But we knew that.

  And despite all the obvious and commendable effort (and enjoyment!) that goes into every number, half these tunes are pretty forgettable.

  And despite the impressive onslaught of lights and lasers and stage maneuverings, there's really no other moment as satisfying as the one that occurs less than 10 minutes in when Demme's single, still camera captures something the crowd doesn't get to see: an unguarded JT, lurking below the stage in an extended bit of anticipation, shifting incessantly like a caged tiger, awaiting his ascendance.

• Review by Logan Kenny ★★★★★ 1

  rest in peace jonathan demme, you were truly one of the greats

• Review by Cinematic Underdogs ★★★★½

  Brought a tear to the eye to think about how distant a grand concert spectacle like this is from our current world, and how painful the last year must have been for so many of those stage hands / performers.

  And to think that I threw so much shade at Timberlake during the era of TRL, vengefully voting for Korn or Sum 41 or Blink 182. Dig his music or not, the man is a genuine artist, an undeniable talent, and a performative virtuoso.