Sarah Michelle Gellar

Director Richard Kelly impressed the critics with his last film, Donnie Darko. His latest, Southland Tales - maybe not so much. At least that’s the first reaction at the Cannes Film Fest.

The film depicts the effect of a terrorist nuclear attack on the U.S. It stars The Rock as, well, The Rock; Sarah Michelle Gellar as a porn star with a talk show; and last but not least, our own Justin Timberlake as a crazed Iraq War veteran selling a “spiritual drug” to people in Los Angeles.

If it all sounds a bit, um, goofy, take heart in the praise being aimed at JT. “I think you will see Justin do extraordinary work,” said Kelly, who called Timberlake’s role the “spiritual center of the film.