‘The Tender Bar’ Review: A Charming, Albeit Forgettable George Clooney Effort [BFI LFF]

It took a decade for George Clooney to get his hands on the rights for J. R. Moehringer’s 2005 Pulitzer-winning memoir “The Tender Bar,” he excitedly told the BFI London Film Fest audience while introducing a screening of his newest film. Clooney, ever-charming, smiled like a little boy about to open presents on Christmas day, pondering on the long-winded journey that has led him to that moment, from the years of negotiations to the difficulties of shooting a film during a global pandemic. It is no surprise, then, to see the movie-star-turned-director bask in the very particular type of joy that can only be reached through sheer relief. 

By the time we are first introduced to J.R. (Daniel Ranieri), he is in a fully packed car, a shabby mattress ungracefully tied to the top of the roof. Behind the wheel is his mother, Dorothy (Lily Rabe), effervescently singing to a song on the radio in a desperate attempt to drown the anxiety triggered by the trip. J.R.’s eyes refuse to stray away from the woman, examining every single glance and twitch as if it was a precious clue. His attention is entirely hers until it isn’t, the boy turning his little head to the window at the sight of his uncle, Charlie (Ben Affleck).

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Charlie is on a baseball field, nimbly swinging from side to side, one eye on the game, the other on the fresh arrivals. The weary glance exchanged by the siblings echoes Dorothy’s nervous behavior, the dynamics clear from the start: this is not a jolly homecoming. The boy on the passenger’s seat is playing somewhat of a game, too, carefully assessing every aspect of the interaction between the two adults beside him. Here, the camera lingers on Ranieri’s big brown eyes, alerting the viewer to the perceptive nature of the boy.

It is precisely J.R.’s observant demeanor that allows for a deeper connection between him and his uncle, Charlie being the kind of adult that has no desire whatsoever in dialing down his bluntness around children. The man treats kids with the same forthrightness he applies to all of those who surround him, investing little energy in meaningless conversations – his detachment, however, could never be mistaken for indifference. 

The man cares, and demonstrates it in a way perfectly suited for the owner of a bar. In this case, the bar is The Dickens, an old-style pub decorated with heavy old books, a nod to the famed writer from which the place gets its name. The shabby little joint is heaven on earth for J.R., who loves reading almost as much as he loves his uncle. Afternoons melt into evenings as the boy sits by the bar, seeing Charlie distribute witty pearls of wisdom with the same dexterity employed to slide glasses over the shiny surface of the counter. 

Alas, it isn’t all flowers in the life of the young man, whose mother had to move back to her childhood home after failing to pay the bills. Dorothy is still plagued by the trauma of her relationship with her alcoholic ex-husband, Moehringer senior (Max Martini), a small-time radio host far more concerned with where to find his next shot of bourbon than he ever was with caring for his son. Naturally, the more neglected the boy is, the more obsessed he becomes with the radio, clinging for dear life on anything that closely resembles a paternal link. 

Clooney spends a long time dissecting the trauma J.R. has suffered from the absence of his father, but it is the relationship between the young man and his mother that feels like the true driving force behind The Tender Bar. Dorothy dreams of her son attending Yale, grabbing his little face between her eager hands as she drills into his head that everything is possible. So, to Yale J.R. goes. When his mother tells him she dreams about him becoming a lawyer, he gets into Law School. If his father wouldn’t be there for Dorothy, J.R. – in a classic oedipal move – made sure he would. 

Despite the earnestness of this all-American coming of age story, it is hard to escape the sense that “The Tender Bar” lies somewhere between a Nicholas Sparks adaptation and a middling Saturday Night Live sketch. Clooney does himself no favors by employing camerawork that could have come straight out of an episode of The Office, his proclivity for zooming into characters not only disruptive but fruitless. 

Alas, when the film hits the intersection between charm and wit that is personified by Clooney himself, there is much fun to be had. Affleck is comfortably settled into the role of the all-knowing-uncle, his comedic timing favored by the fact he bagged – by far – the most interestingly written role in the film. Enhancing Affleck’s performance is TikTok-harvested Daniel Ranieri, a kid with the eyes of a Margaret D. H. Keane painting and the foul-mouth of an English hooligan. 

Completing the competent trio of protagonists is Tye Sheridan, who plays J.R. through his college days into the early stages of his writing career. Sheridan – who is always a solid bet –  strikes gold through his willingness to commit to the farcical (kudos to a particularly great scene revolving around a breakfast table), navigating emotional woes and comedic quips without ever falling victim to the clichés of Clooney’s saccharine endeavor. 

It is a shame that “The Tender Bar” never truly capitalizes on the quality of its few moments of comedic inspiration, leaning instead towards a melodrama doomed to be forever trapped in afternoon reruns. If one thing, at least Clooney can find some solace in knowing that, when pitched against last year’s sci-fi The Midnight Sky, this is most definitely an improvement. [C-] 

“The Tender Bar” will debut in select theaters on December 17 before hitting Amazon Prime Video on January 7, 2022.