Rent The Tender Bar on Amazon Video (paid link) // Buy the book (paid link)
Written by: J.R. Moehringer (book), William Monahan (screenplay)
Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Daniel Ranieri, Lily Rabe, Christopher Lloyd, Ron Livingston
Rated: R
Watch the trailer
Plot
A boy growing up on Long Island seeks out father figures among the patrons at his uncle's bar.
Verdict
This is steeped in nostalgia for the 70s. Since I missed that era, I don't connect with this story. This is a collection of events in JR's life, covering more ground than I expected from childhood to adulthood. This lacks a goal and direction, but it's about JR's influences both good and bad. It's an encapsulation of childhood. We see a comparison between JR and the people he encounters in his life. Perception plays a big part in how people see the world.
It depends.
Review
I really liked writer Monahan's early work like The Departed, but his latest works The Gambler and Mojave have been disappointing. This one is an improvement.
As a kid, JR (Daniel Ranieri) and his mom (Lily Rabe) move back home. A big influence throughout JR's life is his uncle Charlie (Ben Afflek). Charlie runs a bar named The Dickens full of books. While he never went to college, Charlie is well read and knows a lot about people from running the bar. He's a secondary character, but a well developed one.
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| Daniel Ranieri and Ben Afflek play young JR and Charlie |
JR spends a lot of time in the bar and certainly gets a lot of father figures dispensing advice. The only person that doesn't give him advice is his actual father (Max Martini). I thought the movie would just cover JR's childhood and how his experiences in the bar shaped his development, but it covers well into adulthood. Throughout his uncle's bar remains a fixture in his life. When JR goes home, he goes to the bar.
JR gets his first girlfriend in college and when he meets her parents we see the class divide. It's a great scene over an awkward breakfast. It's easy to see that the parents don't like him, and he goes all in to cement that impression. The parents soon realize they class divide and that plays into their perception of him.
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| Tye Sheridan plays JR |
We're watching the highlight reel of his life. JR graduates from Yale and there's a comparison to the prestige of the degree and the people in the bar. Just because JR has a degree from a fancy school doesn't make the people in the bar dumber. The world really is about image and perception. JR came from meager social standing and rose through the ranks. We can assume he's a smart kid and worked hard, but we don't know that. A corollary to JR is Charlie. They're both smart in their unique ways, and Charlie has had a huge influence on JR. Charlie is the wisest man in the movie. He knows people, he knows facts, and he's smart enough to put it all together. Charlie knows exactly what he wants, and during this movie JR is trying to determine that for himself.
I feel like I'm just to young for this movie. If I had grown up in the same timer period, I'd have that connection. Instead I'm seeing a guy's life unfold that's just a step disconnected, wishing there was a specific goal. This movie is just about growing up. The lingering image in JR's life is his absentee father. Finally JR sees in his father what everyone else saw.
Why the The Tender Bar? It's a place where JR grew up. It's not as gruff as usually portrayed. That place was home. It also could just be a word play with a movie that has a few of them, bar tender, tender bar.
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