breaking news: timberlake falters!

Is this the way it's really going down?
Is this how we say goodbye?
Should've known better when you came around
That you were gonna make me cry
It's breaking my heart to watch you run around
'Cause I know that you're living a lie
That's okay baby 'cause in time you will find...

What goes around, goes around, goes around
Comes all the way back around.

this just in: last night betty went on youtube, anxiously looking forward to the new justin timberlake video, which provocatively co-stars scarlett johannson and lots of smooching. it's called "what goes around," and you won't find a link to it here!

damn! 'twas disastrous in the first degree! not to mention it runs 10 minutes long for a six minute song (meaning they stop the song at several points), and a 34 minute version is in the works!

shall i enumerate the ways in which the reigning king of pophearts and part of the brilliant team behind the best pop album of the last decade missteps in his first huge folly?:

1. i think he let his cat write the "script" for this "movie" because the dialogue makes you feel embarassed for everyone involved! it's like they took a bunch of shredded soap opera scripts, threw them in the air, then picked up the pieces based on what animal shapes they resembled ("i don't want the keys to your castle!"). scarlett naturally comes off looking the worst, like she sold her talent for five magic beans and a chance to royally piss off cameron diaz.

2. why even make a movie of this song? it's so evocative without it. plus, this particular attempt at "dramatizing" the song actually hurts the song in multiple ways - by making bathetically literal justin's "revenge" (you'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll throw your imac across the room), by turning a personal lament into a macho misogynistic chest-beating session, by employing rejects from the "eyes wide shut" auditions - in short, by presenting a picture that is much less interesting than what the song on its own implies.

3. please. scarlett would never cheat on justin with that guy. he must be justin's cousin or something.

betty would like to take this opportunity to call a moratorium on cinematic music videos, certainly for this artist. either be rockin' out with the band or find something else to do that has nothing to do with the situations described in the song lyrics - you hear me justin?! i may just save your career; we'll discuss my fee later.

with this video, justin comes close to ruining betty's enjoyment of "what goes around", which is a fine song with some amazing moments, and is treading close to the kind of hubris that would make r. kelly blush. let's hope "lovestoned" ("those flashing lights come from everywhere/the way they hit her i just stop and stare") is his next single, and NOT "losing my way" ("hi my name is bob and i work at my job/i make forty-somethin' dollars a day"). it's high time JT realized the perfect limits that render his mystique endless.