Movies Watch Ben Affleck serve drinks and life lessons in George Clooney-directed The Tender Bar The film marks George Clooney's latest directorial effort. By Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker Maureen Lee Lenker is a senior writer at Entertainment Weekly with over seven years of experience in the entertainment industry. An award-winning journalist, she's written for Turner Classic Movies, Ms. Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, and more. She's worked at EW for six years covering film, TV, theater, music, and books. The author of EW's quarterly romance review column, "Hot Stuff," Maureen holds Master's degrees from both the University of Southern California and the University of Oxford. Her debut novel, It Happened One Fight, is now available. Follow her for all things related to classic Hollywood, musicals, the romance genre, and Bruce Springsteen. EW's editorial guidelines Published on October 14, 2021 09:00AM EDT "In life, you gotta have it." And by the looks of things, The Tender Bar does. On Thursday, Amazon Studios dropped the first trailer for George Clooney's latest directorial effort. The Tender Bar stars Tye Sheridan as a boy, J.R., growing up under the tutelage of his Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck) and an assortment of colorful father figures. With his home base in Charlie's bar, J.R. makes a stab at pursuing his professional and personal dreams. The first trailer showcases J.R.'s transformation from young boy to young adult, all under the watchful eye of Charlie and the characters of his bar. While his harried mother (Lily Rabe) and his curmudgeonly grandfather (Christopher Lloyd) stress about his future, Charlie takes J.R. under his wing to teach him the "male sciences." As J.R. matures and earns a spot at Yale, he is caught between his family, his desire to be a writer, and the girl he's falling for. Ben Affleck and Tye Sheridan in 'The Tender Bar'. Claire Folger/Amazon The Tender Bar is based on the best-selling memoir of the same name by J.R. Moehringer and features a script by William Monahan (The Departed). This marks Clooney's first reunion with Affleck after winning Best Picture together for Affleck's Argo (Clooney executive produced that film). Watch the trailer above for more. The Tender Bar hits select theaters Dec. 17 before expanding nationwide Dec. 22. It will be available on Amazon Prime Video beginning Jan. 7. Related content: Oscars heat index: Ben Affleck takes a shot at Best Supporting Actor in The Tender Bar Duel Perspectives: How Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener teamed up for The Last Duel Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Nicole Holofcener break down a key The Last Duel scene