Delayed Reaction: The Tender Bar

Premise: A man reflects on his working-class Long Island upbringing and how it led him to Yale and ultimately to becoming an author.

 

It’s weird. In a certain light, no one had to scrap harder than George Clooney to become one of the most powerful names in Hollywood. He worked for two decades taking any job he could. He was an infamous show-killer for years. When he did find success finally on E.R. he didn’t get complacent. He built relationships with filmmakers and performers that would become fruitful over the years.

 

However, in another light, it’s weird how little success he’s had to be so established. 2001 is when we realized he IS a movie star. He had The Perfect Storm the year before as his first blockbuster, then Ocean’s Eleven is a definitive movie star role. He basically was Danny Ocean in the public’s eyes. He started making films the next year with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, making him a multi-hyphenate. He got an Oscar for Syriana in 2006, the same year as his second film, Good Night and Good Luck became a hit with the Oscars. At that point, he was the king of Hollywood. So, 5 years to go from “established movie star” to “cemented governor”. He continued to go at it hard for another 5 years, but he’s been pretty quiet in the last decade. He’s good in Gravity. I think he’s underrated in Tomorrowland. He did a Coen movie and Money Monster for Jodie Foster. I don’t know the last time on screen when he looked like the king of the industry though. And his directorial efforts have completely fizzled. Good Night and Good Luck isn’t that remembered. What’s the best movie out of Leatherheads, The Ides of March, The Monuments Men, Suburbicon, The Midnight Sky, and The Tender Bar?

 

Don’t get me wrong. I love George Clooney. It’s just weird to think about how he basically got to the top of the mountaintop and has coasted for a decade.

 

The Tender Bar is a movie you’ve seen before. It’s not as patronizing as Hillbilly Elegy. It’s better acted than The Glass Castle. But, it’s just a memoir about an author’s colorful childhood leading him to adulthood. In this case, it follows protagonist JR from childhood (Daniel Ranieri) to shortly after college (Tye Sheridan). He has a single mother (Lily Rabe) who has had a hard life but puts everything she has into giving her son better opportunities. There’s Ben Affleck as JR’s wise, bar owner uncle and surrogate father figure. JR goes from working class to Yale to the New York Times.

 

I have some trouble with this kind of movie, because it’s ultimately a story about the author congratulating himself. Here’s the story of the people that made him the success he is. It’s about JR’s mom and uncle propping him up to be better or him realizing how much better he is than his deadbeat dad. Either way, it’s JR using his history to self-aggrandize himself. The way the story shifts from “Gee, can you believe I’m at Yale even though I came from such a lowly place” to “the people in this lowly place are really the best people” is disingenuous.

 

I didn’t derive much meaning from this movie. I don’t know why George Clooney wanted to make this movie. The best thing about it is that Ben Affleck gives a really great performance. That could’ve been the worst character in the wrong hands since the character is begging to be seen as endearing. Affleck plays him like a guy who really would be embarrassed by the canonization he’s receiving in the film. Otherwise, this is just a really inert film.

 

I mean, congrats to J.R. Moehringer on his journey. But the film just never convinces me why I’m supposed to care about that journey.

 

Verdict: Weakly Don’t Recommend