If the entirety of "The Tender Bar" was based all on young JR, I probably would've loved it. But the second they hard cut to college age JR, it became overly schmaltzy and sentimental. The scenes with Uncle Charlie are fantastic. I really wish Christopher Lloyd was given more to do instead of simply farting/yelling/grunting but I guess that establishes why JR's mother doesn't like to go home.
It's still worth seeing for Affleck's performance.
I watched The Tender Bar last night and loved Ben Affleck and all the performances. Maybe I wanted more to happen at times? I'm sure the emphasis on "JR" and what it stands for...loomed large for the kid but to me, the topic was repetitive and not interesting. I did have the feeling that JR was going to succeed after he drove off -- but only because he had written a memoir and we were watching the movie based on it. (I'll look up Moehringer now, based on Ty's review). The movie needed a better title -- The Dickens Bar would have been good enough. But it was worth watching for Ben Affleck's performance.
If the entirety of "The Tender Bar" was based all on young JR, I probably would've loved it. But the second they hard cut to college age JR, it became overly schmaltzy and sentimental. The scenes with Uncle Charlie are fantastic. I really wish Christopher Lloyd was given more to do instead of simply farting/yelling/grunting but I guess that establishes why JR's mother doesn't like to go home.
It's still worth seeing for Affleck's performance.
I watched The Tender Bar last night and loved Ben Affleck and all the performances. Maybe I wanted more to happen at times? I'm sure the emphasis on "JR" and what it stands for...loomed large for the kid but to me, the topic was repetitive and not interesting. I did have the feeling that JR was going to succeed after he drove off -- but only because he had written a memoir and we were watching the movie based on it. (I'll look up Moehringer now, based on Ty's review). The movie needed a better title -- The Dickens Bar would have been good enough. But it was worth watching for Ben Affleck's performance.