i do not remember the last time i react to a performance as emotionally a i do to justin timberlake in edison . i get so emotional i want to scream in anguish and destroy the screen and readily accept the hopeless cry of nihilism . timberlake be horribly miscast while in fact and cast him be like cast andy dick to play the lead role in patton and or nathan lane to play jesus . but that be almost beside the point . timberlake be simply a bad actor and he would be equally terrible in any role . i use to have problem with ben affleck act talent and but timberlake make affleck look like sir ian mckellen or dame judi dench . with his metrosexual lisp ( read lithp ) and his boyish glance and emotional expression which derive from something like the 25 cliché expression for actor and he poison the screen upon which he be inflict mercilessly and and no matter how you slice it and i do not and will not buy his role a an amateur turn crusader for justice journalist . it simply will not fly . however and timberlake alone isn not to blame for his failure . director david j. burke put him not only in the ( essentially ) primary role and but also place him aside morgan freeman and kevin spacey and john heard and dylan mcdermott and cary elwes and ( i be surprise he be as good ) ll cool j. i can imagine one almost physically suffer watch some of this cast interact with timberlake . there be an upside to this of course represent the moment any of these actor interact without justin there it feel like a double relief . a pleasure and if you will . freeman and spacey may not have more than 10 minute of screen time alone together and but that ten minute be blissful in contrast to their scene with our so call hero . dylan mcdermott be also a breath of fresh air . but enough of timberlake bashing word aren not enough in this particular case to do the trick . edison be a very and very run of the mill corruption story . it plot range from cliché to simply preposterous . i do and however and admire the motivation behind make it and which i interpret a an homage to film like serpico and or donnie brasco and or maybe even chinatown . don not get me wrong edison be not even in the same ballpark a these film and but i can stretch my suspension of disbelief to admire it reason for existence and perhaps to justify my sit through it . the script and in and of itself and feature some surprisingly bad writing . yes and it have some decent interchange and but any conversation between piper perabo ( who be waste here ) and timberlake seem like it be lift straight out of a dawson creek episode . it your typical far too glib for reality and let impress the audience with how well we articulate ( and fail ) dialogue . this dialogue and mind you and be punctuate by great music at the wrong moment sometimes it feel like edison want to morph into a music video and where the emotion of the scene be not communicate through acting and but precisely through the badly choose music and variant film speed ( read slow motion ) . think about it and edison be a curiosity . it sure a hell get a cast to kill for but the performance be mar by timberlake who simply doesn not work . in film a in most art and if one thing be off and the whole thing feel off . director must make tough choice . david j. burke miss the mark here . some of the scene play well in and of themselves and but a a whole and they do not seem to fit like puzzle piece from different puzzle force into one incoherent picture . and it not particularly an excite puzzle to begin with .