Austin Film Festival 2025 Review:
"Jay Kelly"
If we don’t care about the existential crisis a real-life movie star endures, why should we care about the existential crisis a fictional movie star endure? This is not the question that co-writer/director Noah Baumbach poses with Jay Kelly, but it is the question that his amiable but ultimately shallow Netflix dramedy leaves with us. In Jay Kelly, George Clooney’s eponymous movie star tells his mentor, director Peter Schneider (Jim Broadbent), “Lately, I feel like my life doesn’t really feel real. Maybe a better way of putting is, My life doesn’t really feel real.” Things get worse not only when Schneider dies but when Jay’s old roommate Timothy Galligan (Billy Crudup, delivering a film-defining cameo) accuses him of stealing his acting career. All of a sudden, Jay announces he is backing out of his next film and heads to Europe under the pretense to spend time with his youngest daughter Daisy (Grace Edwards) and to receive a lifetime achievement. Really, he’s just running away from his life. And he’s dragged with him his whole team, including his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler) and his frustrated publicist Liz (Laura Dern). We quickly learn that it’s Jay Kelly’s world and that everyone else is living in it. Jay’s problems are his team’s problems to solve. Jay, of course, is as charming as a movie star comes. And, maybe because he’s played by Clooney, there’s an old-school Hollywood allure to him. People are drawn to the public Jay Kelly because he is as affable and charismatic as the public George Clooney.(Baumbach, working from a knowing script he co-wrote with actress Emily Mortimer, does not shy away from drawing parallels between Jay and Clooney: a film festival tribute to Jay features scenes from many of Clooney’s films, resulting in the sense that Jay Kelly is as much a celebration of Clooney’s long and distinguished career as it an examination of an actor on the verge of a late-career crisis.) It is impossible to know how much of the private Jay Kelly resembles the private George Clooney, but Clooney obviously draws from his own Tinsel Town experiences and observations to portray Jay as an egotistical narcissist who thrives in the spotlight but needs his hand held every second of the day. He’s a star, granted one whose box office is on the decline, but he’s not method or exacting enough to be considered one of the greats. Like Clooney, Jay’s often accused of constantly playing himself: “You know how difficult it is to play yourself? You try it.” Bearing this in mind, Jay Kelly is not so much about an actor who can no longer distinguish himself from the characters he plays but about a major star who is beginning to age out of certain roles and sees an uncertain future. And, to avoid having to confront this head-on, would rather contemplate retirement. Ultimately, need drives Jay Kelly. Jay need to understand the man and the actor he has become after so many decades of being rich and famous. Ron’s need for Jay’s recognition and appreciation after decades of managing a client who takes him for granted. Liz’s need to control every aspect of Jay’s public life to get through the day. Jay’s eldest daughter Jessica’s (Riley Keough) need for her father to validate the abandonment issues stemming from her childhood. Jay’s youngest daughter Daisy’s need for her space before going to college. As Baumbach and Mortimer make clear, all problems begin with Jay but don’t necessarily end with him. And, as noted during a flashback featuring Jay in acting school, he is not a person who leans toward introspection. So it is inevitable that Jay’s first attempt at self-reflection not only leaves him dazed and confused but also leaves those in his orbit feeling the same way. His most notable victim, as such, is Ron. Without Ron, Jay would not be where he is today. But it has come at a steep price, as Ron has sacrificed his family life to tend to Jay’s every need. A restrained and immensely likeable Sandler imbues Ron with unquestionable devotion to his biggest client, but he informs every moment with and without Jay with a desperate need to confirm and value his work on his behalf. More important, Sandler is supremely comfortable playing second fiddle to Clooney and recognizing that it is Jay, not Ron, who drives the narrative. There’s also a sense that Ron leaves the film festival in Italy in a better place. But it is unclear what, if anything, Jay learns about himself during an event that celebrates his career or from his frequent trips down memory lane that finds him watching himself during pivotal moments in his life. “Are you running to something or from something?” Ron asks Jay. Jay Kelly does not really answer this question. Maybe because it takes more than a few days for someone in the middle of existential crisis to learn who they are and their place in life. But, again, Jay Kelly never really gives us enough of a reason to care whether this self-involved Hollywood near-relic finds himself. Posted: Nov. 4, 2025. Web site: https://austinfilmfestival.com/ |
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