Clooney and the Coens get madcap with Matt Damon in the ‘Suburbicon’ trailer

Suburbicon is directed by George Clooney, who also shares a screenwriting credit on it with frequent collaborator Grant Heslov. But it’s the other names in the writing credits that are the real eye-catchers here. Joel and Ethan Coen also shared in the writing duties, and their hallmarks are all on full display in this first trailer. There’s morbid crime in a seemingly idyllic place; a disenfranchised man taking foolishly dangerous measures to get ahead; comic buffoonery from an Ocean’s Eleven hunk; and there’s even the repetitive squeak of a hand exerciser building tension like the rhythmic head-thumps of the Serious Man trailer. More so than any of their other recent writing-only efforts (Bridge of Spies, Unbroken, and even Gambit), this film’s Coen pedigree smacks you in the face like a trademark sucker-punch.

Set in a wholesome ’50s neighborhood, the film stars Matt Damon as a husband and father who gets in over his head with loan sharks. The mob comes after his family, successfully murdering his wife, and the madcap violence somehow manages to escalate from there. Oscar Isaac co-stars as a mafia enforcer, with Julianne Moore returning to a clandestine suburbia (see: Far from Heaven) as the aunt that comes to play surrogate mother.

Suburbicon hits theaters October 27.

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