The Tender Bar marks George Clooney's eighth time in the director's chair and features its biggest star, Ben Affleck, in a show-stealing supporting role. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist J.R. Moehringer's 2005 memoir of the same name, TTB is a coming-of-age story following Moehringer's life for about 17 years from about six-years-old to his time working as a news assistant at the New York Times.
Ben Affleck's struggles with alcoholism have been well-publicized. And weirdly enough, The Tender Bar is at least the seventh movie in which Affleck portrays a guy with a worrisome history of drinking (Good Will Hunting, The Town, Batman v. Superman, Suicide Squad, The Way Back, The Snyder Cut). This time around, he brings young J.R.'s maternal uncle, Charlie, to life.
**SPOILERS Ahead**
The story kicks off with J.R.'s single mom having to move in to her father's home -- which is pretty similar to the way Ghostbusters: Afterlife starts. J.R.'s grandfather, who has a photographic memory, is portrayed by veteran actor Christopher Lloyd (he was pretty good in this year's John Wick-esque action flick Nobody -- if you haven't seen it, check it out). Young J.R. has never met his father but he's intimately familiar with his voice. See, Dad is a radio personality and J.R. listens to his show every day; he even talks to the radio as though he were actually speaking to his pops. Unsurprisingly, J.R. develops a pretty significant father complex -- which is the main theme of the story.
But because his dad is absent, J.R. not only spends an unhealthy amount of time obsessing over him, he also looks for replacement father figures. Fortunately for him, Uncle Charlie -- who doesn't have any kids of his own -- steps up and takes his nephew under his wing. You know that African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child"? Well, plenty of guys pitch in to take up the slack for J.R.'s absentee father. Charlie runs a bar on Long Island -- and no, it's not called "The Tender Bar". It's actually named "The Dickens". Charlie's a big reader and even though he never went to college, he loves books and keeps plenty of hardcovers and paperbacks on display at the bar (as well as an entire closet-full of them at home). Anyway, Charlie's patrons immediately take a liking to J.R. and try to guide him down the right path. Even the normally anti-social Grandpa Moehringer takes J.R. to his school's father-son breakfast.
Anyway, Charlie's love of literature inspires J.R. to dream of becoming a writer -- not a DJ. J.R.'s mom, who never went to college herself, dreams of him going to Yale.
TTB isn't a bad movie but it's not the most gripping watch either. It has its moments -- most of which are energized by Affleck. The Tender Bar represents a marked improvement over Ben Affleck's last release -- The Last Duel. But, ironically, it amounts to a step down from Clooney's most recent feature -- The Midnight Sky. The Bar will be free to stream for anybody with an Amazon account, so if you happen to have a password and a couple of hours to kill, maybe check it out. Otherwise, don't sweat it. If you're an Affleck fan, go check out The Town or The Snyder Cut instead.
Available for streaming on Amazon Prime on 12/17.
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