"The Tender Bar"

2021 1h 46m  As the old adage goes: timing is everything. That’s especially true when it comes to movies and the Academy Awards. Unfortunately, “The Tender Bar”, a new film produced and directed by George Clooney, was released in theatres just as the recent spike in Covid cases was under way. This resulted in shutting down movie theatres and forced the film to go almost directly to streaming. That means the film probably won’t get the buzz needed to be considered by critics for award nominations. This is unfortunate since the film really deserves more recognition than it’s getting. 

 

That said, I found “The Tender Bar” a thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining film. It’s a beautiful coming of age story about a boy named JR.  We first see the young boy (Daniel Ramieri) and his mom (Lily Rabe) as they move back to her childhood home to escape an abusive dad (Max Martini). We don’t see much of the dad until much later in the film, and all we know about him is he’s “The Voice”, a popular radio DJ with a golden voice and a drinking problem. He barely figures in the life of JR which proves to be a good thing. 

 

The young JR loves his new surroundings; it’s a lively household, just jam packed with relatives of all ages. His days are filled with great experiences and are full of surprises. He lives with two family members who will have a huge impact on his life. Christopher Lloyd plays his cranky and eccentric grandpa. You think he’s going to be a mean old man, but he turns out to be encouraging and is a softy at heart. Case in point--he even dresses up and takes JR to the Father & Son breakfast at his school! 

 

Then there’s Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck). I’ve always thought of him as one of the most overrated actors in Hollywood. But he sure surprised me in this movie. The guy can actually act! Here he’s both a smart mentor and father figure to JR, and you wonder why he didn’t do more with his life than run the family bar.  Young JR dreams of going to Yale and becoming a writer. In one scene Uncle Charlie opens up his closet, which is completely full of books and tells JR to just read all of them for a start!

 

“The Dickens”, the family’s tavern is a second home for JR. It’s reminiscent of the bar in “Cheers” in that it’s full of lovable and quirky characters and much of the film takes place there. It sort of makes you wish there was a local pub like that around here. 

 

Tye Sheridan plays the older JR, and we follow him through high school, college, and out into the real world. A lot of time and growing up are packed into a mere hour and forty-six minutes in this film. It’s quite an enjoyable ride as JR chases his dream. My favorite quote from the movie is when JR is discussing writing. His friend observes, “When you suck at writing, you become a journalist”. (Ouch!) I enjoy movies like this where almost nothing horrible happens to the main characters. What a pleasant surprise this one turned out to be.

Four out of five stars

 

Currently streaming on Prime Video.