Ben Affleck

Tye Sheridan

Daniel Ranieri

Lily Rabe

Christopher Lloyd

Max Martini

Rhenzy Feliz

Briana Middleton

Max Casella

Sondra James

Michael Braun

Matthew Delamater

Ivan Leung

Danielle Ranieri

Kate Avallone

Mark Boyett

Quincy Tyler Bernstine

Ezra Knight

David Carl

Shannon Collis

Keira Jo Lassor

Jennifer C. Johnson

Michael Steven Costello

Kate Middleton

Jackson Damon

Caroline Bergwall

Daniel Washington

Jenny Eagan

Steve Gagliastro

Annabella Valle

Clara Kelly

Meara Mahoney Gross

Ron Livingston

Jack Baumrind

Julia Bechler

Keith R Beck

Alissa Bourne

Dara Taylor

Linda Cohen

William Monahan

Tanya Swerling

Matt Kasmir

Martin Ruhe

Kalina Ivanov

Melissa M. Levander

Trish Seeney

Bryan Felty

J.R. Moehringer

Todd Beckett

Jon Title

Dana Pacheco

Nancy Nugent

Julian Slater

Barbara A. Hall

Rachel Tenner

George Clooney

Grant Heslov

Ted Hope

Drama

The Tender Bar

Amazon Studios

Smoke House Pictures

Grand Illusion Films

United States of America

English

Pусский

1970s

coming of age

long island, new york

writer

uncle nephew relationship

So very plain.

To be honest: I found <em>'The Tender Bar'</em> to be a bore. I felt like I had seen this film before, such is the predictable and monotonous nature of the story. It almost felt like a (poorer) rerun of 2020's <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/hillbilly-elegy/" rel="nofollow">Hillbilly Elegy</a>'</em>.

I will say, though, that Ben Affleck gives a very good performance in this, to the point that I actually would've liked to have seen a story revolving around him and his character - as opposed to who this 2021 flick is about. Aside from Affleck, I didn't care for any of the other performances and therefore any of the other characters.

It's not even a bad film, it's just so, so boring - for me, anyway.

CinemaSerf

It's not often I find myself writing this, but Ben Affleck is comfortably the best thing about this otherwise rather lacklustre adaptation of JR Moehringer's autobiographical coming of age tale. It depicts the story of his childhood - through the eyes of the engaging young Daniel Ranieri - before he heads to Yale in the guise of Tye Sheridan. The first half hour, maybe, is quite entertaining. This young lad living with his mother (his selfish father is estranged from them, living the mobile life of a late night radio talk show host) in the home of his mildly eccentric grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) and their home is a lively, buzzing environment in which the youngster thrives. Chief amongst the residents is his charismatic, worldly-wise uncle "Charlie" (Affleck) who runs a local bar populated with a decent, working-class clientele who take to the young man and encourage his obvious academic talents. That half hour peters out, though, and the rest of the film is really a rather uninspiring story of a young man, his "first love", a youth who is looking for some sort of positive male "role model". I find Sheridan a rather sterile actor. Sure, he is pretty, but he doesn't ever stand out with his performances. They are all just a little bit by the numbers, and here is no different. He speak words of passion, but his acting conveys none of that adequately on screen. The soundtrack is left to do much of the heavy lifting when it comes to dialogue, and it feels longer than the 1¾ hours it takes to watch. I am glad I watched it - on a big screen in London with just one other person - but I don't think I would ever bother watching it again.

This film, written by William Monahan and directed by George Clooney on autopilot is yet another shallow glimpse into the formative years of an wannabe writer. This is hardly virgin territory, having already been thoroughly covered by the likes of Unstrung Heroes, Almost Famous, and Neil Simon’s ‘Eugene Trilogy’, to mention but a few examples.

J.R. Maguire (Daniel Ranieri, Tye Sheridan), based on American novelist and journalist J. R. Moehringer, grows up in an eccentric family straight from Central Casting — we have the long-suffering single mother, the deadbeat dad, the curmudgeonly grandfather with a secret heart of gold, and the cool uncle who doubles as a father figure. The only thing, and it’s nothing to sneeze at, that The Tender Bar has going for it is that the grandfather and uncle are played by Christopher Lloyd Ben Affleck.

“When you’re 11, you want an Uncle Charlie,” says J.R. I can’t disagree, especially considering that Uncle Charlie owns The Dickens Bar, its shelves filled with booze and books. Now, this and no other is the movie they should have made: one wherein Ben Affleck is a self-taught philosopher barman who doles out drinks and folk wisdom in equal parts, and Christopher Lloyd is his best customer.

Unfortunately what we have here is such hackneyed material that Affleck’s and Lloyd’s combined efforts can hardly raise it above the commonplace (how’s this for a cliché: to illustrate the fickleness of J.R.’S stereotypically unattainable romantic interest, the soundtrack breaks into into Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”), whence it crumbles back whenever they’re off-screen.

It doesn’t help either that the potential shown by Sheridan in Mud and Joe apparently didn’t survive the actor’s puberty. In these two films Sheridan could boast of going toe-to-toe with Matthew McConaughey and Nic Cage; here Affleck acts circles around him.

Worst of all, we hear from a number of people how good a writer J.R. is, but we’re never given any concrete reason for that — only platitudes, such as invoking some ineffable je ne sais quoi or just unilaterally deciding that “You are a writer the moment you say you are.” What he fails to realize is that talking business and meaning business are two very different things.

Official Trailer

George Clooney introduces The Tender Bar | BFI London Film Festival 2021

THE TENDER BAR red carpet | BFI London Film Festival 2021

The Tender Bar( 2021)

Between the ones who love you and the ones who leave you is the journey of a lifetime.

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A review by r96sk

Written by r96sk on Wed Mar 16 2022

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