The Tender Bar is the newest Amazon Prime film and the latest directorial effort from George Clooney, who is extremely hit or miss as a director with more misses than hits. Thankfully this is one of his better films and easily his best since The Ides of March, which came out over a decade ago in 2011. It’s not a perfect film, but given the run he was in with his last three directorial efforts, The Monuments Men, Suburbicon, and The Midnight Sky, I’m happy this was more in my wheelhouse of enjoyment.
The Tender Bar is based on the J.R. Moehringer memoir, and he recounts his adolescent years as he grows up fatherless in Long Island but had a father figure in the form of his uncle Charlie, who ran the local bar. Charlie is a charismatic, self-educated bartender who introduces him to a handful of the bar’s colorful regulars. As the years’ pass and J.R. grow into a young man, he tries to fulfill his dream of becoming a writer.
The Tender Bar is Clooney’s sweetest film as a director and a change of pace as it’s a heartwarming coming-of-age story with real characters. Clooney picked out a great selection of the 70s/80s track as the soundtrack is excellent and had me jamming. In these types of films, the narration is critical and crucial, as a voice that isn’t soothing could bore you with the narrative. Thankfully, Ron Livingston, who I’m a fan of from Swingers and Office Space, has a great voice, so I loved his narration as adult J.R.
Ben Affleck was excellent, giving one of his best performances. His was a very sweet, charming, and tender performance that showed a different side of him as an actor. The film is most potent when he is on screen, and his well-meaning advice is missed when he doesn’t appear. I feel he might be reaching his character actor stuff in a pretty boy’s body phase of his career like Brad Pitt, and this was his second excellent supporting performance in the last few months after The Last Duel.
Affleck has excellent chemistry with Dani Ranieri and Tye Sheridan, who plays the kid and young adult version of J.R., with Ranieri giving the better performance of the two. This was an excellent child performance that was both very likable and spirited.
Lily Rabe, as J.R.’s mom, was excellent. I loved how she cared about her son’s dream and wanted him to achieve it. The great Christopher Lloyd makes a small appearance as J.R.’s grandfather, and it’s always great to see Lloyd on screen, especially at his age. He isn’t given much to do but does have a funny scene where he farts a lot.
You can’t have a show or film set in a bar without bar regulars who offer comedic relief, and this is no different. Max Casella, Matthew Delamater, and Michael Braun play three of the bar’s patrons, and they made me laugh so much with their wisecracks. However, I wish they would have been developed a bit more, perhaps sharing more solo time with J.R. to provide some wisdom.
The Tender Bar started strong but lost most of its luster by the second half. I was invested in the first half when it revolves around his childhood, but once we get into his young adulthood, it’s evident that J.R., as played by Sheridan, wasn’t as interesting. I liked Sheridan in many of his earlier works, like Mud and Joe. Still, I haven’t liked or found him believable in his recent work, with this and last year’s underrated The Card Counter being bad performances that he felt wildly miscast in. In addition, I didn’t find him believable at all as an aspiring writer.
Overall, The Tender Bar is one of the better Clooney-directed films, and since it’s streaming, it’s easy to watch as you don’t have to leave home. If you’re a fan of coming-of-age films, I’d say check it out as it runs at an easy-to-digest 100 minutes.
