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Monday, May 23, 2011 1:24 PM UTC

Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg reunite for “3-Way”

Their new "Saturday Night Live" short has taken the Internet by storm. Too bad it's actually not very good

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Topics: Saturday Night Live, Lady Gaga, Music, Sex, Television,

Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg reunite for Timerlake, Gaga, and Samberg have a 3-way.

Well, it was no “Captain Jack Sparrow,” but I’m sure many people were pleased to see Lonely Island/ “Saturday Night Live” star Andy Samberg hook up with his BFF-bro Justin Timberlake in this weekend’s season finale. After all, these are the guys who brought you “Dick in a Box“  and “Motherlover“: the former of which cemented Lonely Island’s place in the “SNL” pantheon, and the latter of which was actually funny.

Unfortunately, not even Lady Gaga’s presence could save the underwhelming reunion of J.T. and A.S. in “3-Way,” a song that wasn’t only musically boring (if Justin Timberlake and Gaga can’t get some interesting harmonies going in your song, there’s a problem), but about as tepid as a number about having sex with Lady Gaga  could be. 

Reprising their “Night at the Roxbury 2.0″ characters from previous songs, the manscaped Timberlake and Samberg give a halfhearted performance that only shines in a beginning sequence with Patricia Clarkson and Susan Sarandon (leftovers from “Motherlover”). The rest of the number they phone in, letting the costumes they stole from the set of “In Living Color” do most of the work. Gaga gets a couple of good cat howls in the background to make up for the lack of musical gusto, but even the song’s theme (a magic rule stating that it’s “not gay” to be freaking with another guy if there’s a chick in the middle) could have been stretched farther and funnier to make it a true Lonely Island digital short.

Ah well, I guess they can’t all be “On a Boat.”

Drew Grant is a staff writer for Salon. Follow her on Twitter at @videodrew. More Drew Grant.

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