“The Tender Bar” and Playing it Safe
I haven’t read the memoir The Tender Bar is based on, nor am I familiar with the work of JR Moehringer. Based on this film he has a fascinating story, but I’m sure he told it a lot better himself.
In theory, there’s nothing really wrong with The Tender Bar. Directed by George Clooney (The Casamigos founder who also acts every once in a while) the film explores the coming of age of JR Maguire (Tye Sheridan), a fatherless working-class bibliophile, who goes to Yale in hopes of becoming a writer. JR leans on his Uncle Charlie,(Ben Affleck) to navigate love, his career, and the looming shadow of his deadbeat father.
The film is pretty well acted. Affleck, known for his peaks and valleys as an actor, gives a solid performance. For the soccer fans (or those who will indulge me), Affleck reminds me of Paul Pogba: a flashy player with almost as many haters as fans who can be brilliant when he is properly motivated. If he gives a shit he’s usually pretty good. Just like in The Way Back a few years ago, the role of Uncle Charlie is in his wheelhouse: a working-class mentor looking to redeem his past self in a higher potential successor, but in this role plays up the swagger of an uncle whom JR wishes he could be like. A Christopher Lloyd appearance is always appreciated. All the side characters are likable- I particularly appreciated Rhenzy Feliz as JR’s college friend.
Tye Sheridan is an actor whom I think doesn’t get enough credit. I think he’s talented enough to lead a movie but isn’t given many of those roles. I guess he led Ready Player One technically, but that movie was led more by #content than anything else. Like the grown-up version of JR, he gives an earnest performance as the protagonist despite being somewhat overshadowed in screentime and billing to Affleck. Just like in his other two 2020 releases Voyagers (Among Us: The Movie) and The Card Counter, Sheridan is able to elevate an ok movie with excellent performance. He has a great knack for playing sophomoric rough-around-the-edges characters, the guys from college or at a bar I would describe as as “kind of a fuck”.I hope he gets to show more range in future roles because I think he’s capable of that, but we haven’t really seen it yet.
The problem with this movie and many similar book-to-film adaptations is that it doesn’t really do enough to justify its existence. What does the film version of The Tender Bar provide that one can’t get from reading the book? For instance, Dune’s visuals, and score elevate the (half of a) book’s story on screen. In contrast, George Clooney’s directing is pretty tame and doesn’t really elevate the film- even for a slice-of-life film everything seems pretty tame. The screenplay seems to just be a watered-down version of the source material. Nods to “Memoir being hot in publishing” and “completely mystory” is probably clever when scattered across the memoir but often comes off as an annoying Rick and Morty-Esque metacommentary practically screaming: “HEY THIS IS BASED ON A MEMOIR!” A lot of the times JR comes across as Christopher Molitsanti asking Paulie Walnut what his arc is, but he actually gets a worthwhile answer from Uncle Charlie.
Ultimately, The Tender Bar is a movie that’s harmless but really has a lot of lost potential. Critics and Audiences will likely be satisfied but ultimately, this feels a lot like a vanity project for everyone involved, hoping to catch some awards here and there but won’t lose sleep over it. Just like JR driving away in his uncle's car, something he’s apparently dreamed of but never really bothered to mention, the payoff feels unearned. If you have Amazon Prime Video and like Sheridan and Afleck, you’ll be satisfied but not much more.
