Between the ones who love you and the ones who leave you is the journey of a lifetime.
JR is a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie, is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father — JR begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams, with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.
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Classical in form, earnest, contemplative and effortless.
- classical in formformally daring
- earnestironic
- contemplativerelentless
- effortlessdemanding
- rawmeticulous
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“Is the slow pace a feature rather than a flaw?”
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“Is Ben Affleck the best thing in The Tender Bar?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- tmdb28039023on TMDB · Aug 20221/10
This film, written by William Monahan and directed by George Clooney on autopilot is yet another shallow glimpse into the formative years of an wannabe writer. This is hardly virgin territory, having already been thoroughly covered by the likes of Unstrung Heroes, Almost Famous, and Neil Simon’s ‘Eugene Trilogy’, to mention but a few examples. J.R. Maguire (Daniel Ranieri, Tye Sheridan), based on American novelist and journalist J. R. Moehringer, grows up in an eccentric family straight from Central Casting — we have the long-suffering single mother, the deadbeat dad, the curmudgeonly grandfather with a secret heart of gold, and the cool uncle who doubles as a father figure. The only thing, and it’s nothing to sneeze at, that The Tender Bar has going for it is that the grandfather and uncle are played by Christopher Lloyd Ben Affleck. “When you’re 11, you want an Uncle Charlie,” says J.R. I can’t disagree, especially considering that Uncle Charlie owns The Dickens Bar, its shelves filled with booze and books. Now, this and no other is the movie they should have made: one wherein Ben Affleck is a self-taught philosopher barman who doles out drinks and folk wisdom in equal parts, and
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · Mar 20226/10
It's not often I find myself writing this, but Ben Affleck is comfortably the best thing about this otherwise rather lacklustre adaptation of JR Moehringer's autobiographical coming of age tale. It depicts the story of his childhood - through the eyes of the engaging young Daniel Ranieri - before he heads to Yale in the guise of Tye Sheridan. The first half hour, maybe, is quite entertaining. This young lad living with his mother (his selfish father is estranged from them, living the mobile life of a late night radio talk show host) in the home of his mildly eccentric grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) and their home is a lively, buzzing environment in which the youngster thrives. Chief amongst the residents is his charismatic, worldly-wise uncle "Charlie" (Affleck) who runs a local bar populated with a decent, working-class clientele who take to the young man and encourage his obvious academic talents. That half hour peters out, though, and the rest of the film is really a rather uninspiring story of a young man, his "first love", a youth who is looking for some sort of positive male "role model". I find Sheridan a rather sterile actor. Sure, he is pretty, but he doesn't ever stand o
Read the whole review on TMDB - r96skon TMDB · Mar 20226/10
So very plain. To be honest: I found <em>'The Tender Bar'</em> to be a bore. I felt like I had seen this film before, such is the predictable and monotonous nature of the story. It almost felt like a (poorer) rerun of 2020's <em>'<a href="https://letterboxd.com/film/hillbilly-elegy/" rel="nofollow">Hillbilly Elegy</a>'</em>. I will say, though, that Ben Affleck gives a very good performance in this, to the point that I actually would've liked to have seen a story revolving around him and his character - as opposed to who this 2021 flick is about. Aside from Affleck, I didn't care for any of the other performances and therefore any of the other characters. It's not even a bad film, it's just so, so boring - for me, anyway.
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Cast
- Ben AffleckCharlie Maguire
- Tye SheridanJR Maguire
- Daniel RanieriYoung JR Maguire
- Lily RabeDorothy Maguire
- Christopher LloydGrandpa Maguire
- Max MartiniThe Voice, JR's father
- Rhenzy FelizWesley
- Briana MiddletonSidney
- Max CasellaChief
- Sondra JamesGrandma Maguire
Crew
- George ClooneyDirector
- William MonahanScreenplay
- Martin RuheDirector of Photography
- Dara TaylorOriginal Music Composer
- Tanya SwerlingEditor
- George ClooneyProducer
- Grant HeslovProducer
- Ted HopeProducer
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