The Tender Bar (2021)

By: Mike Ward on Saturday, January 22

R Running Time: 106 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

The Tender Bar is an inoffensive breezy watch. Perfect for streaming, as it is now available on Amazon Prime.
Ben Affleck is earning justifiable awards buzz as Uncle Charlie, and he is far and away the best element of George Clooney’s family-focused drama.
A friend and fellow critic describes movies like The Tender Bar as the perfect movie to fold laundry to. He means it as a compliment and this movie more than fits the bill.

NO

Lacks the moments it constantly searches for; the emotional punch it wants to land to make this truly meaningful. As a result, this is workmanlike and somewhat unremarkable.
It’s a minor quibble, but speaks to a lack of attention to detail. Could you find two actors who look less alike and expect us to believe they are merely 8-10 years apart in age? No disrespect to Tye Sheridan or Daniel Ranieri but the willing suspension of disbelief only goes so far.
In the end, Affleck can only carry this thing so far. The script and story just fall way, way short of being anything profound. And this movie really, really wants to be profound.

OUR REVIEW

The heart is in the right place, but The Tender Bar suffers from something of an imposter’s syndrome. The film is not a remake. The source material, a 2005 memoir by novelist J.R. Moehringer, has not been adapted before. However, this is a movie we have seen numerous times in the past, and despite George Clooney’s steady hand as a director, the film never feels original, fresh, or new.

Wanting to be a crowd pleaser, and landing softly within those confines, The Tender Bar tells the story of J.R., from his pre-teen days to his formative years, relying on the guidance from his Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck) to stand in for an absent father (Max Martini), a radio D.J. whose mere voice causes a radio to fly across the room and abandoned J.R. and his mother Dorothy (Lily Rabe) soon after his birth.

Affleck is comforting and very good in the role of Uncle Charlie. He owns a neighborhood watering hole and shares advice and observations with relative ease. This fills a hole in J.R.'s life, as his single mother has returned home to take care of her extended family, which includes her father (Christopher Lloyd), sister Ruth (Danielle Ranieri), and J.R.

For a portion of the movie, Daniel Ranieri plays J.R. at 9 and 10 years old and the first-time actor (and son of Danielle) is a natural on screen. He develops immediate chemistry alongside Affleck’s potent sincerity and genuine kindness. Uncle Charlie’s bar is called “The Dickens” and in a detail that proves both cringey and wholesome somehow at the same time, the walls of the bar are essentially a dusty, fraying library of classic books. There’s never one far from Charlie’s grasp or recall that doesn’t provide sage advice for J.R. and this also develops a love of literature that J.R. carries into his teen and adult years.

Shifting to those formative times, Tye Sheridan steps in and takes over the role, though he looks nothing at all like his younger counterpart. Older, J.R. steps away from the family and Uncle Charlie, as he goes to Yale and falls for his first real love, Sidney (Briana Middleton).

The Tender Bar is not so much a bad movie as it is a predictable, unremarkable one. Clooney infuses the film with voiceover, mixes of dramatic flourishes alongside amusing, comedic ones. The film thrives in one-on-one interactions, but falls weaker when the eyes turn outward and bring more players into the fray. Affleck is far and away best in show, so it’s hard not to see why Clooney builds his film around the actor, now comfortable drawing on a wealth of life experiences to make Charlie authentic, influential, and real.

In the film’s second half, young adult J.R. grapples with a direction in life, a pursuit of companionship, and the pulls of venturing out into independence or staying close to home. This is all well-intentioned storytelling, But we also know, if we have watched any movies at all, J.R.’s life is going to turn out just fine.

He’ll figure it out. He’ll overcome adversity. He’ll always find a way.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Daniel Ranieri, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, Max Martini, Rhenzy Felix, Briana Middleton, Max Casella, Danielle Ranieri, Sondra James, Michael Braun, Ron Livingston

Director: George Clooney
Written by: William Monahan
Based on the memoir “The Tender Bar” by J.R. Moehringer
Release Date: December 22, 2021
Amazon Studios

The Tender Bar is an inoffensive breezy watch. Perfect for streaming, as it is now available on Amazon Prime.

Ben Affleck is earning justifiable awards buzz as Uncle Charlie, and he is far and away the best element of George Clooney’s family-focused drama.

A friend and fellow critic describes movies like The Tender Bar as the perfect movie to fold laundry to. He means it as a compliment and this movie more than fits the bill.

Lacks the moments it constantly searches for; the emotional punch it wants to land to make this truly meaningful. As a result, this is workmanlike and somewhat unremarkable.

It’s a minor quibble, but speaks to a lack of attention to detail. Could you find two actors who look less alike and expect us to believe they are merely 8-10 years apart in age? No disrespect to Tye Sheridan or Daniel Ranieri but the willing suspension of disbelief only goes so far.

In the end, Affleck can only carry this thing so far. The script and story just fall way, way short of being anything profound. And this movie really, really wants to be profound.