First Look: George Clooney’s ‘The Tender Bar’ With Ben Affleck Hits Theaters In December Before Prime Video 2 Weeks Later

George Clooney and Ben Affleck go way back. Clooney liked the young actor right away; they circled a bunch of projects together. Then the older thespian eventually helped produce “Argo,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2013. They’ve circled many more projects over the years, but as Hollywood is wont to do, not everything comes to fruition. One project that did come together quite fast and is already ready for release is the drama “The Tender Bar.”

Written by Academy Award-winner William Monahan (“The Departed”), “The Tender Bar” is a human drama, a story of self-invention and escape, which centers on the author seeking a replacement for his father. The story is about a New York City disc jockey who vanished before his son spoke his first word. It’s essentially a coming-of-age story, but for more than one man, it sounds.

Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning author J.R. Moehringer’s memoir “The Tender Bar,” the film adaption stars Ben Affleck, Tye Sheridan, Christopher Lloyd, and Lily Rabe. What’s more, Amazon seems to be positioning it for Oscar contention with a platform release that’s going limited theatrical, nationwide, and then on Amazon Prime itself. Here’s the official synopsis:

The Tender Bar tells the story of J.R. (Sheridan), a fatherless boy growing up in the glow of a bar where the bartender, his Uncle Charlie (Affleck), is the sharpest and most colorful of an assortment of quirky and demonstrative father figures. As the boy’s determined mother (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. The Tender Bar is based on the best-selling memoir of the same name by J.R. Moehringer.

Amazon Studios will release “The Tender Bar” in L.A. & N.Y. Theaters on December 17th, 2021, in theaters nationwide on December 22nd, 2021, and globally on Amazon Prime Video on January 7th, 2022. Take a first look at the movie below.