Review: The Tender Bar

Image courtesy of Amazon.

George Clooney's "The Tender Bar," which is based on a memoir of the same name by J.R. Moehringer, is a good natured coming of age story that doesn't exactly distinguish itself from other films of its type - kid grows up with eccentric family, an absent father, a family member (in this case, an uncle) who acts as a surrogate father, kid makes it into prestigious Ivy league school, meets and gets dumped by woman at the prestigious school who breaks his heart and eventually becomes a writer.

But while the beats in "The Tender Bar" mostly feel familiar, and the plot doesn't go anywhere we're not expecting it to go, the film is genial and well crafted, and some of the performances go a long way in making it enjoyable. 

As the film opens, JR (Daniel Ranieri) - whose name provides fodder for a running joke in which people ask him what his name stands for - is moving with his mother into her father's house. JR's father, who is simply referred to as The Voice (Max Martini), is a radio disc jockey who moves around a lot and doesn't pay much mind to the family he left behind. Whenever JR gets the occasional chance to catch up with the old man, he remains aloof and inscrutable. 

JR's grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) is a lovingly cantankerous old man, but it's Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck), a local bartender who is seemingly filled with wisdom, who makes the biggest impression and acts as both the cool uncle who everyone loves and the father that is missing from JR's life. JR hangs out at Charlie's bar and becomes familiar with the cast of characters who populate the place.

It is Charlie who pushes JR to pursue his love of reading and his dreams of being a writer, while his mother, Dorothy (Lily Rabe), dreams of his attending Yale and becoming a lawyer. Charlie curses profusely in front of his young nephew and gives him all sorts of sage advice, some general (about where to keep his money in his wallet) and other strangely specific (never hit a woman, even if she stabs you with a pair of scissors). The film is set in 1973 and The Voice's job as a radio personality means that "The Tender Bar" is filled to the brim with 1970s musical nuggets. 

After Charlie's stint at Yale - and an on-again-off-again relationship with a young woman named Sidney (Briana Middleton), who breaks his heart over and over - he takes up a tryout gig at The New York Times, where he gives journalism a shot, all the while planning on writing a novel. I've spent about 17 years in and out of the world of journalism, and the ease with which Charlie strolls into the Times and lands his job is, well, a bit on the far-fetched side, regardless of whether this film is based on a memoir.

As I'd mentioned, "The Tender Bar" never goes anywhere you're not expecting, and it culminates just about where you think it will. That being said, the journey getting there is helped along by Ranieri's wonderful performance as young JR, and Affleck's portrayal of Charlie, a role that is written as a cliche, but given depth by the actor's performance, which is his best in some time. "The Tender Bar" may be overly familiar, but it's a mostly likable coming of age story.