On Prime Video’s The Tender Bar, Ben Affleck plays a bar owner who will take his aspiring writer nephew under his wing. A role in which the actor shines under the gaze of George Clooney in the production.
WHAT IS IT ABOUT ?
JR, a fatherless boy, spends hours in the bar run by his uncle Charlie, an eccentric, crazy and colorful man who represents the only father figure in his entourage.
As the boy’s mother does everything so that he can access opportunities she has never been able to enjoy – and thus leave the dilapidated house of his own father who supports her in spite of himself – JR decides to pursue his personal dreams and professionals with courage and awkwardness, while always keeping one foot in the bar of his uncle Charlie.
WELL WORTH A LOOK ?
By staging a screenplay adapted from the successful memoirs of journalist and writer JR Moehringer, George Clooney delivers yet another coming-of-age story, an initiatory account of a young man and his passage to adulthood. If the plot is not revolutionary, it is in its male interactions that The Tender Bar draws all its strength.
2010-2022 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates
The life of JR Moehringer, played young by a rather touching Daniel Ranieri and older by a rather convincing Tye Sheridan, was marked by the absence of an alcoholic DJ father and by the love of literature. It is towards this path that the boy is heading and it is thanks to writing that he flourishes and rushes towards his destiny.
JR can count on the support of his courageous, fighter and sensitive mother, battling cancer (Lily Rabe) and that of his grandfather, a little cranky but not mean for a penny (Christopher Lloyd), who collects them. and provides them with necessary stability.
My uncle Charlie
But it is above all thanks to the love and kindness of his uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck) that JR grows and fulfills himself as a man. Owner of The Dickens bar, where books and beers come together and which is a refuge for the young boy, Charlie becomes JR’s major parental figure.
And it is in this relationship which deconstructs the model of toxic masculinity that JR knew with his biological father that the film draws all its emotional power.
2010-2022 Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates
This thanks to the masterful and sincere performance of Ben Affleck, who slipped with ease into the shoes of this eccentric sage, idol and pedagogue. Under the gaze of George Clooney, the actor embodies to perfection this uncle a little apart in the 70s and turns out to be the ray of sunshine of The Tender Bar.
We knew George Clooney more inspired in his direction but when Ben Affleck is on screen, the staging is more precise, the atmosphere more affectionate and the story deeper. In the end, The Tender Bar turns out to be a rather feel good film, with an agreed moral but a great warmth and a welcome optimism.