THE TENDER BAR – Movie Review

By Arun Sajnani

THE TENDER BAR – It is a middle of the road film. A little off beat, but a film that takes you into a life of story between an Uncle and his Nephew named “JR”. Now streaming on Amazon Prime, Director George Clooney takes on the memoirs of writerter JR, and his personal equation with his Uncle, played by Ben Affleck, who was a mentor to him.

It is set in the 70’s, in the blue collar area of Long Island. JR, who is played by Tye Sheridan, makes his mothers dream come true for him to go to Yale. Since his mom is divorced, he feels the pressure to fulfill his mothers wishes, yet follows to become a writer, and is inspired by his uncle. It is a simple story. The theme of having a child mentored or encouraging them to find his identity or self worth is important.

However, I felt George Clooney could have extracted more out of these characters. I felt Affleck as the uncle that runs – “The Dickens Bar’, could have had more relevant scenes to progress the story forward. Even the scenes where he tells his nephew how to move on from a one-sided relationship, could have been more engaging. Clooney just touches the surface of this relationship.

About the author

Neha Nikharge

Neha Nikharge is Assistant Editor at Awesome TV and a writer for AWSM Times. Neha covers Bollywood, OTT releases, celebrity interviews and pop culture for South Asian audiences in the US and around the world, and has written more than 4,500 stories for Awesome TV. Story tips and corrections: hello@awesometv.com.

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