Ben Affleck Slings Drinks in First Trailer for George Clooney’s Fuzzy Family Drama The Tender Bar

The Tender Bar tells the story of J.R. (Tye Sheridan), a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie (Ben Affleck), is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother (Lily Rabe) struggles to provide her son with opportunities denied to her — and leave the dilapidated home of her outrageous if begrudgingly supportive father (Christopher Lloyd) — J.R. begins to gamely, if not always gracefully, pursue his romantic and professional dreams — with one foot persistently placed in Uncle Charlie’s bar.

In short, it sounds like a very familiar, fuzzy kind of family dramedy, tinged with the same sort of growing up experiences that were likely familiar to both Clooney and Affleck. Still, it’s fun to see the 82-year-old Christopher Lloyd back on screen as the cantankerous grandfather, and early buzz for The Tender Bar has been very kind of Affleck’s performance in particular. Perhaps the film can aspire to more than simply nostalgia, although the trailer being almost entirely set to Paul Simon’s “Me And Julio Down by the Schoolyard” doesn’t exactly suggest that’s a priority. Regardless, check out wise bartender Affleck below as he slings both beers and aphorisms.