George Clooney and Adam Sandler shine in this warm hug of a movie about friends, family, work, choices, consequences…and regrets
Jay Kelly
Starring George Clooney & Adam Sandler
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Rated R
In theaters Nov. 21, on Netflix Nov. 5
So, who’s Jay Kelly? He’s a very successful actor, not near as young as he used to be, and this funny, touching and moving movie takes us on an engaging, emotional journey with him as he re-evaluates his life. And it’s a big booster shot of authenticity that he’s played by George Clooney, himself a very successful (Oscar-winning) actor, not near as young has he used to be when he made his debut back in the early ‘80s.
Jay Kelly is a wonderfully woven story about life’s wide-ranging journey, told through an inside-Hollywood prism as we meet the people in Jay’s past and present: his manager (Adam Sandler), publicist (Laura Dern), director-mentor (Jim Broadbent), old acting-school chum (Billy Crudup), father (Stacy Keach) and daughters (Riley Kelough and Grace Edwards). The populous cast also includes Patrick Wilson, Isla Fischer, Emily Mortimer, Greta Gerwig and Eve Hewson.
The movie’s many characters have all played—and are playing—parts in shaping Jay’s life, and we watch him as he revisits old memories. Regrets? As the song goes, he’s had a few. But we see how he, and his life in movies, have touched countless lives, made so many people smile, across the decades. Jay Kelly is a showbiz microcosm for us all, reminding us how we’re irrevocably shaped by where we’ve been and what we’ve done, and the choices we’ve made. As Jay regards his own life, and his choices, he wonders if he’s been the father he should have been, the husband he might have been, or the friend he could have been.
Clooney is charming and spot-on-perfect, but Sandler is a revelation. Hundreds of movie miles away from the on-screen immature goofballs that have been his primary stock in trade, here he’s a big part of the film’s heart and soul as his character is wrenched between his loyalty to his client and his own family priorities.
Director/writer Noah Baumbach, a lauded Hollywood presence himself, expertly juggles all the actors and the movie’s many moving parts as the story moves across time—and across Europe, where Jay goes to attempt to catch up with his youngest daughter and pick up an honorary award. On a bustling train ride from France to Italy, he enviously watches “ordinary” people enjoying their lives—and becomes a real-life “hero” by nabbing a purse-snatcher. Throughout, the characters’ conversations and dialogue, and their behaviors, ring true.
But life, and fame, can be complicated, and sometimes nothing—and no one—is quite what appearances suggest, especially when it’s a superstar actor playing roles, always pretending to be someone else.
The movie begins—and ends—with Jay asking for another “take,” another shot at re-doing his part, his scene. “Can I go again?” he asks. Haven’t we all wanted a re-do, a chance to do something over, and do it better?
Jay Kelly is a wistful, wonderfully warm hug of a movie about friends, family, choices, sacrifices and consequences, a rumination with a smile wrapped in the life of an unreal actor who seems every bit as real as the real actor playing him.
—Neil Pond
The Media Tourist 