The Tender Bar (2021)

The Tender Bar is a 2021 American coming-of-age drama film directed by George Clooney from a screenplay by William Monahan. The film is an adaptation of the 2005 memoir of the same name by J. R. Moehringer, and recounts Moehringer’s life growing up in Long Island. It stars Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan and Daniel Ranieri as Moehringer, along with Lily Rabe, and Christopher Lloyd also starring. The film was released in a limited release on December 17, 2021, by Amazon Studios, following to the wide expansion on December 22, 2021, prior to streaming on Prime Video on January 7, 2022. It received mixed reviews from critics, though Affleck was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture.

Set in 1970s Long Island, nine-year-old JR Maguire and his mother Dorothy move back in with his grandparents following the dissolution of her relationship with his father. There, he forms a bond with his Uncle Charlie, the owner of a local bar. Charlie acts as a surrogate father to JR and encourages him in his pursuit of becoming a successful writer. JR’s mother is determined that he will go to Yale or Harvard and become a lawyer.