This movie is so likeably forgettable that it feels like amnesia in celluloid form.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 19, 2024

That its at least watchable is an improvement; that it is even occasionally enjoyable feels like a miracle. Clooney's worst instincts occasionally kick in, but generally speaking, its a pleasant enough diversion.

| Original Score: C+ | Mar 19, 2022

The moments between JR and Uncle Charlie are full of tenderness, as the title suggests, and humour. Affleck is quietly brilliant...

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 19, 2022

Affleck makes Charlie simultaneously lazy, acute, hard-nosed, and gentle, and the timing in his line delivery is phenomenal.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jan 7, 2022

The gist of the critical response has been that "The Tender Bar" follows a well-worn path. Fair enough, but is that such a sin?

| Jan 7, 2022

There's nothing fresh about a boy coming of age with the help of his bartender uncle (Ben Affleck reminding us what a terrific actor he can be), but director George Clooney's affection for the characters serves up a double of laughs and tears.

| Jan 7, 2022

The film is an unmitigated pleasure for four-fifths of its length -- and that's more than most offer. It's affectionate, thoughtful and very funny.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Jan 6, 2022

It's a coming-of-age story with working-class detail and if the peaks and valleys of J.R.'s life are a little predictable, the cast provide exemplary turns.

| Jan 6, 2022

The people are so familiar, and the storyline so recycled, that we viewers reflexively fill in the copious blanks in both narrative and atmosphere. But it's like bringing our own mortar to the filmmakers' collection of bricks.

| Jan 6, 2022

Moehringer is a prolific bestselling author who bootstrapped his way into achieving his dreams of becoming a writer - yet his real-life story can't make this film compelling.

| Jan 5, 2022

It's hard to truly hate a film aiming for such kindly emotional resonance. But whatever slight wisdoms or truths are to be found here are squandered in a big nothing of a story trying to render them meaningful.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Dec 31, 2021

It is so clunky. It is so obvious. It is so riddled with clichés.

| Dec 24, 2021

It's basically a series of fond vignettes that don't quite add up to a proper story, but the movie has just enough charm and sweetness to get by.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 23, 2021

It's pure pleasure to see Affleck having such a good time here - and giving such good acting value.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 23, 2021

Nice is fine and all, but in this case, I'm not sure nice is good enough to warrant a recommendation.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 23, 2021

The stakes are low but the quality is high in director George Clooney's comforting 1970s slice of life.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 23, 2021

This melancholic coming-of-age film is more good than ambitious - and that may be why, even with its failings, "The Tender Bar" yields some modest pleasures.

| Dec 23, 2021

A sweet, pat, unchallenging coming-of-age story that resembles a lot of coming-of-age stories you've seen before, but with less depth.

| Dec 22, 2021

The movie isn't terrible, but too often it feels Hollywood-bland; a missed opportunity, served neat.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Dec 22, 2021

You can learn a lot in a bar, especially if you commit to being an observer. WhenThe Tender Baris content to be that movie, it glints beautifully.

| Original Score: B- | Dec 22, 2021