Every family has some quirkiness but this one more than most, with Ben Affleck as a bartender uncle who guides the young J.R. (Tye Sheridan) to adulthood, in the comic coming-of-age tale THE TENDER BAR. Based on J.R. Moehringer’s memoir of the same name, George Clooney directs this story of a fatherless boy stumbling towards career and love, with the help of a colorful assortment of relatives, particularly Uncle Charlie (Affleck) who offers advice and support in a bar that is pretty much home.
Mixing affection, youthful adventure, and humor, THE TENDER BAR is a charmer, that features not only Affleck but Christopher Lloyd as J.R.’s grouchy grandpa and Lily Rabe as his beloved hard-working, emotionally-overwhelmed mother, working so hard that J.R. hardly sees her. But while J.R.’s hard-drinking, unreliable father may be absent, the boy has no shortage of colorful working-class father figures eager to help the boy out, and especially see that he has some fun too. Affleck’s charismatic, self-educated Uncle Charlie dispenses whiskey, classic books and advice from behind the bar at a neighborhood pub named for Charles Dickens in Manhasset, Long Island. The whole family lives together in Grandpa’s rambling, decaying old house, much to Grandpa’s dismay.
Affleck is having a very good year. Here, he delivers one of his most appealing performances in years, a kind of working class tough guy with the highest of ethical standards and an insistence that his nephew always do the right thing and be his best self. It is a wonderful follow up the to actor’s against-type performance in THE LAST DUEL, a complete opposite role where Affleck plays a charming but treacherous nobleman, one of the film’s villains, who encourages bad behavior and is a corrupting force rather than an ethically elevating one.
THE TENDER BAR tends to have a story that wanders a bit, reflecting J.R.’s own journey towards career and romance. Daniel Ranieri plays the very young J.R., who longs for his absent father, while Tye Sheridan plays the teen and adult J.R. Winning a scholarship to Yale, J.R. goes off to college, determined to be a writer, no small feat with no money to support him. He meets the girl of his dreams, although the young woman’s upper-middle class bi-racial family greets him coolly and the young woman herself blows hot and cold. Things seem to get off to a good start with a dream job but life proves difficult after all.
There are plenty of comic moments in this film, particularly with the younger J.R., taken under to wing of an assortment of Uncle Charlie’s barfly buddies who take the youngster along on trips to baseball games, bowling and trips to the beach. One of the most memorable and entertaining moments in the film involves one of trip to the beach, where Uncle Charlie collects young J.R. in his vintage turquoise green convertible, and drives all over town picking up his pals, rearranging the seating arrangements as they go, until the laden car finally arrives at the beach. That description does not begin to convey how funny this sequence is, as it is all in how the actors use this material, but it is a comic gem. A riveting dramatic high point centers on a scene with J.R. and his father (Max Martini), in one of the father’s occasional attempts to reconnect with his son, a scene that serves a pivotal moment in both the film and J.R.’s life.
There are equal measures of heartbreak and triumph in this honest, down-to-earth and thoroughly charming film. Although he is not the central character, Affleck’s Uncle Charlie is the heart of the film, just as he is the linchpin in J.R.’s life, and Affleck’s standout performance makes this warming, winning, quirky charmer of a coming-of-age film.
THE TENDER BAR opens Wednesday, Dec. 22, in theaters.
RATING: 4 out of 4 stars
