Never ever trust advanced Twitter reactions for a movie. They will, more times than not, be filled with praise and overreach. The truth is quite simple: Much of film twitter users are in the game for likes, retweets and, really, just notoriety. They won’t say anything bad about a film if it means it’ll prevent them from going viral. This goes for critics as well, most are too scared to be negative about a film on social media due to fear of being blacklisted by the major studios and publicists.
George Clooney’s “The Tender Bar” started off with some very favorable tweets when it first screened for DGA, BAFTA and film critics last week. And then, I posted the reaction of a well-seasoned West Coast film critic, who attended the DGA screening, and quite bluntly told me not to pay attention to the hyperbole tweets. This anonymous thespian told me the film was “poorly made,” “inconsequential” and “needlessly theatrical.” I received a few emails after posting this reaction telling me that this friend of mine seems to be in the minority since “Twitter is raving about it.”
Well, reviews are out and they are middling. “The Tender Bar” currently has a 57% rotten score.
Starring Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Christopher Lloyd & Lily Rabe, the film’s official premise describes this as the story of “a boy growing up on Long Island who seeks out father figures among the patrons at his uncle's bar.”
The film will be getting an Oscar-qualifying release this year, and just had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. Amazon Studios will release it in LA & NY Theaters on December 17th, and it will then expand wide on December 22nd, followed by a global release on Amazon Prime Video on January 7th, 2022.