The Tender Bar 2021 Movie Review

Movies about writers are one of my personal favourite. There are very few movies about the artistic life that the ones that are made are a delight. The Tender Bar is a movie made by George Clooney based on the memoir of the same name by J R Moehringer. 

Even before I know what the movie is about I clicked on it to see what the Dickens bar was about. Naturally talented boy, Daniel Ranieri, plays the young writer. JR and his mother live their life in the suitcase, moving from rented houses and finally come to settle at his grandfather's house.

Typically, the person who gives you a book is your saviour, that is at least true for a writer. And so it is for JR whose saviour is Uncle Charlie, played by Ben Affleck, who runs the Dickens bar full of the author's books. Affleck himself carries the cool, easygoing vibe that translates on camera as well and he fits perfectly as the street-philosophy serving uncle.

JR which stands for Junior is a name given to him after his absent, drunk father. No one bothers to change it and the name continues to haunt him for life. More so for the older JR, equally in ease on camera, Tye Sheridan. He graduates from Yale, has a promising writing career but what use is this if there are not a few nagging characters that can make it into the book. Those people for JR are his unrequited love, Sidney, and his abusive father. 

This Clooney movie is about the simple beauty of life, so there this human story is told simply with no drama, gently paced, but just about endearing, enduring people, who are all looking for happiness in life. Definitely a movie to be watched for pure storytelling. You can watch it on Amazon Prime now.