An elegy for a Tender Bar: Affleck bright spot in familiar memoir-based story
George Clooney wears his director hat for The Tender Bar, and with a script by William Monahan (The Departed) and Ben Affleck in the lead, the film, on paper, seems full of promising cred. So imagine my disappointment, then, as I watched the movie and the whole thing felt… familiar. Unoriginal. Cliche. The picture has a few decent performances, but sadly is ultimately forgettable.
The problem is that we’ve seen this movie before. As recently as last year, as a matter of fact. Did you see the film, based on a memoir by an author named J.D., in which a poor kid from Appalachia dreams of escaping his working class roots, goes to Yale, and feels like he doesn’t fit in with his peers and his more well-to-do girlfriend? That was Hillbilly Elegy, and it was roundly panned, except for Glenn Close’s turn as J.D.’s grandmother, J.D.’s strong and guiding parental figure. If you missed that, don’t worry: you’ve been given a second chance here.
In The Tender Bar, Clooney and Monahan give us a film, based on a memoir by an author named J.R., in which a poor kid in 1970’s Long Island dreams of escaping his working class roots, goes to Yale, and feels like he doesn’t fit in with his peers and his more well-to-do girlfriend. Ben Affleck assumes the Glenn Close role, as Uncle Charlie, J.R.’s strong and guiding parental figure. Like Close, he’s easily the best thing in an otherwise mediocre, seen-it-all-before film.
J.D. Vance goes to Yale to become a lawyer, and in The Tender Bar, J.R. Moehringer goes to Yale to become a writer. Aside from that difference and the story settings, however, the tone and structure of the two films are entirely similar. Both feature flashbacks of the young J.D./J.R, and then present day scenes of the 20-something initialed authors struggling with college and finding their place in the world outside their familial homes. For J.D., his mother’s drug addiction looms large in his life, and for J.R., it’s his mother’s health issues and his absent, deadbeat father that shape his trajectory. The story of a boy wrestling with father issues is hardly new, and The Tender Bar doesn’t have anything fresh to offer on the subject, beyond hitting us over the head with the fact that J.R.’s problems with his father dominate all aspects of his life.
In Hillbilly Elegy, J.D.’s grandmother assumes a surrogate mother role, and in The Tender Bar, J.R.’s Uncle Charlie assumes a surrogate father role. The scenes between Affleck’s Uncle Charlie and the young, ten-year-old J.R. (Daniel Ranieri) are easily the best in the film, even if they do end up feeling a bit redundant, as Charlie continually hands down pithy life lessons to his nephew. Ranieri has a natural charm, though, that Tye Sheridan, as the older J.R., fails to capture. That Ranieri and Sheridan look absolutely nothing alike is not just a failure of casting, but also incredibly distracting, especially since the differences in Ranieri and Sheridan’s performances make it hard for us to believe we’re seeing the same character some ten-plus years later.
The supporting cast lifts the proceedings somewhat. Lily Rabe, as J.R.’s mother, and Christopher Lloyd, as his grandfather, each have some stand-out moments with Ranieri that, had there been more like them, would have elevated the film. Max Martini as J.R.’s much longed for father, actually has the picture’s most complex role, and keeps us guessing as to his true motivations, just as he does with his confused son. Brianna Middleton, as Sidney, J.R.’s Yale love interest, also brings some quirky, surprising dynamism to her smaller role.
But Affleck is the true MVP here, and his role as a bar owner is a case of an actor confronting his demons, as Affleck’s challenges with sobriety have long been tabloid fodder. Charlie’s comfort and camaraderie in his bar are evident, and when little J.R. is perched on a bar stool, enjoying being the center of attention from his uncle and his bar buddies, you do get a sense of the nostalgia that Clooney was probably aiming for. Too bad that aura of sweetness only fills a modest portion of the picture.
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The Tender Bar opens in select theaters today, and will be available on Amazon Prime on Jan. 7th.
