Jay Kelly

Released 2025. Director: Noah Baumbach

AS IT TURNS OUT, MOVIE STARS have problems just like the rest of us normal poor people and they don't live picture-perfect lives despite their fame and enormous wealth. Well, who knew? Sorry, I shouldn't be facetious. Movie stars are people too and they deserve our understanding. That's what this movie tries to tell us but ummm, it doesn't work.

Jay Kelly is a very famous actor and is played by a very famous actor named George Clooney. In an alternative universe George could be Jay, or vice versa. Point is, we know how insanely successful and incalculably rich George Clooney is, and having him play a similarly successful and cashed-up big star isn't quite a casting coup as it might seem. Mega celebrities like Clooney (and his character here) live on a different plane from the great majority of us, and unless the movie is able to bring the character to meet us on our level, it's hard for us to extend our empathy if we have to tiptoe and stretch our limbs to reach up.

Jay seems to have only just realised that he's distant from his loved ones. He decides that he wants to spend more time with his daughter Daisy but she'd rather go to Paris with her friends. Jay also has not seen his other daughter Jessica for years. He's an absent dad who spends all his time building a career, amassing wealth and legions of fans but alienating his family.

Jay also finds himself suddenly awash by a feeling of guilt of robbing his friend Tim from acting school of his big break all those years ago. Tim obviously hasn't forgiven Jay and the two men end up in a fist fight after catching up at a funeral.

On a whim, Jay drops everything to catch up with Daisy on a train in France, en route to accepting an award at a tribute in Tuscany which he has earlier declined. Stuck in a carriage full of commoners, Jay is feted by adoring fans and toasted as a hero when he leaps off the (slow-chugging) train to run after a bag snatcher. But the man is still troubled by the disconnect he feels, plagued by doubts and feeling like a driver who has lost his GPS.

Okay, there's a lot of angst going on and clearly the filmmakers want the audience to sympathise with Jay, so bothered and beleaguered he can't even focus on getting ready for a party held in his honour.

I don't know about you but I feel very little for a man whose troubles are all self-inflicted, in a movie with its prime purpose to manufacture angsty sentiments to convince us that hey, he's just like an ordinary person. It's difficult to engage with the sadness of a millionaire superstar who cannot function in his daily personal life without an entourage catering to his every want.

Just for one second, put any star-gazing and admiration aside and it's not hard to see that despite the regrets, doubts and contradictions, Jay Kelly is not like the rest of us. He is completely un-relatable to a regular person and the movie hasn't done enough to endear him to people who do not live in similarly rarefied circles.

Noah Baumbach is usually pretty sharp in writing about the follies and foibles that make us human, but I think he's missed a couple of steps here. The more wretched he makes Jay's situation, the further we feel the character recedes. Instead of seeing a man making an effort at connecting, or over-compensating as a means at redress, we see a man making impulsive decisions, using money as a solution, and in the end everything is still about what he wants. Jay's attempts at redemption reeks of narcissism.

Acting is not to be blamed. George Clooney does a fine job playing a self-absorbed movie star pricked by conscience. The surprise, however, is Adam Sandler, who has finally crossed from crass comedies to a notable dramatic performance. As Jay's longtime manager Ron, Sandler's role is the real heart of the movie. I feel more for his disappointment at being fired as I do for all of Jay's troubles. Ron's abiding loyalty and unwavering professionalism, to the detriment of his personal life (though in fairness he gets a handsome paycheck), speaks more about the sacrifices and priorities among those who work (or slave) for the ultra-rich and famous that the movie should really have been about the manager, not the movie star.

There will be a lot of love for Jay Kelly the movie, as Jay Kelly the fictional character must appeal to the high achievers of Hollywood. I suspect many will see this as a heartfelt depiction of their struggles and personal cross to bear. To me it's just a big pity party.

Click image above to view trailer. New window will open.