A lot of people seem to forget that, before he launched his career as a multi-million-dollar pop star by joining NSYNC, Justin Timberlake was a main cast member on The Mickey Mouse Club. His prior experience explains how the “SexyBack” singer and SNL Five Timer’s Club member has managed to earn a reputation as one of the best musicians-turned-actors of all time. To celebrate his success on the screen, we have compiled our picks for the best Justin Timberlake movies so far, along with how to watch them, below.
Alpha Dog (2006)
A young California drug dealer (Emilie Hirsch) and his friends abduct the teenage brother (Anton Yelchin) of a man who owes him money as part of a ransom scheme.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: One of Timberlake’s first major and acclaimed acting roles was Frankie Ballenbacher, who is tasked with minding the kidnapped Zach Mazursky in writer and director Nick Cassavetes’ Alpha Dog, which is inspired by a true crime.
Rent or buy Alpha Dog on Amazon
Buy Alpha Dog on Blu-ray on Amazon
Blake Snake Moan (2006)
A Tennessee bluesman (played by Samuel L. Jackson) finds a badly beaten young woman (played ny Christina Ricci) outside his home, takes her in, and vows to give her the spiritual guidance he believes she needs.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Tennessee native Timberlake stars in writer and director Craig Brewer’s compelling drama, Black Snake Moan, as Ronnie — the estranged boyfriend of Ricci’s character.
Stream Black Snake Moan on Pluto TV
Rent or buy Black Snake Moan on Amazon
Buy Black Snake Moan on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Open Road (2009)
A former baseball player (Jeff Bridges) is forced to confront his flawed relationship with his son (Timberlake) while driving together to visit his ailing ex-wife (Mary Steenburgen).
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Timberlake has great chemistry with Academy Award winner Bridges in writer and director Michael Meredith’s underrated travel dramedy, The Open Road.
Stream The Open Road on Amazon Prime
Stream The Open Road on Tubi
Stream The Open Road on Pluto TV
Stream The Open Road on Peacock
Buy The Open Road on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Social Network (2010)
After his social networking site skyrockets in popularity, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg) faces legal action from his former best friend and business partner Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) and the Winklevoss Twins (Armie Hammer), who claim he stole their idea.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Arguably Timberlake’s best movie yet is co-writer Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher’s sharp, biting, Oscar-winning dramatization (and indictment) of the rise of Facebook, The Social Network, in which he plays Napster co-founder Sean Parker.
Rent or buy The Social Network on Amazon
Buy The Social Network on Blu-ray on Amazon
Bad Teacher (2011)
A middle school teacher (Cameron Diaz) decides to abandon her aimless, sleazy ways and become a more deserving role model and educator for her students.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: What motivates Diaz’s character to step up her game in the educational world in director Jake Kasdan’s raunchy comedy, Bad Teacher, is the arrival of a new, committed school staff member whom she finds attractive, played by Timberlake.
Rent or buy Bad Teacher on Amazon
Buy Bad Teacher on Blu-ray on Amazon
Friends With Benefits (2011)
A friendship between a New York City head hunter (Mila Kunis) and her new client, an LA-based art director (Timberlake), gets complicated when they decide start occasionally have sex.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Co-writer and director Will Gluck’s Friends with Benefits is a romantic-comedy movie better than you might remember for how it cleverly acknowledges and mocks the clichés typically associated with stories about platonic relationships becoming more.
Stream Friends with Benefits on Netflix
Rent or buy Friends with Benefits on Amazon
Buy Friends with Benefits on Blu-ray on Amazon
In Time (2011)
In a world where time is literally money, a poor man (Timberlake) is forced to go on the run after being falsely accused of murdering a mysterious man who gave him all the time he had left.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Timberlake gave being an action hero a try as the lead of In Time — a dystopian sci-fi thriller with a unique and thought-provoking premise from writer and director Andrew Niccol.
Stream In Time on Hulu
Rent or buy In Time on Amazon
Buy In Time on Blu-ray on Amazon
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
An inside look at the increasingly troubling life of a struggling musician (played by Oscar Isaac) in the early 1960s.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Timberlake puts his musical talents to great use for his brief, but memorable, role in Inside Llewyn Davis — Joel and Ethan Coen’s beautiful and hilarious love letter to the Greenwich folk scene — as a more successful artist named Jim.
Rent or buy Inside Llewyn Davis on Amazon
Buy Inside Llewyn Davis on Blu-ray on Amazon
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
A documentary crew chronicles the rise and fall of a boy band member-turned-solo rap artist (played by co-writer Andy Samberg).
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Timberlake has utilized both his musical and comedic talents brilliantly in his collaborations with The Lonely Island, including in his uncredited role in the vastly underrated music mockumentary, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, as Conner4Real’s personal chef, Tyrus Quash.
Rent or buy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping on Amazon
Buy Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Trolls Movies (2016-2023)
The adventures of a happy troll (voiced by Anna Kendrick) and her more cynical companion (Timberlake).
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Another role that sees Timberlake combining his musical and comedic talents is Branch, whom he originated in 2016’s Trolls (for which also wrote the Oscar-nominated song, “Can’t Stop the Feeling”) and reprised in 2020 for Trolls World Tour and in 2023’s Trolls Band Together, for which he cut a new single with NSYNC.
Stream Trolls on Netflix
Rent or buy Trolls World Tour on Amazon
Stream Trolls Band Together on Netflix
Buy the Trolls movies on Blu-ray on Amazon
Palmer (2021)
A recently released convict (played by Timberlake) forms a close bond with a young child (played by Ryder Allen) struggling with bullies and a troublesome life at home.
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Timberlake gives a performance unlike any he has ever given in a role unlike any he has ever played in Palmer — an Apple TV+ original movie from director Fisher Stevens.
Reptile (2023)
A perplexing homicide case begins to take a personal toll on a veteran New England detective (played by Academy Award winner Benicio del Toro).
Why it is one of the best Justin Timberlake movies: Timberlake stars as the boyfriend of a brutally murdered woman who also becomes a suspect of the crime, in Reptile — a Netflix original movie from director Grant Singer.
In 2024, Justin Timberlake released his sixth studio album, Everything I Thought It Was, and it was announced in 2021 that he will play Chuck Barris in a series inspired by the Gong Show host’s fictionalized memoir, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Until then, enjoy these flicks!
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