Jay Kelly begins with one of the best opening scenes of the year — a seemingly unbroken, long tracking shot which takes place on a movie set. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren seamlessly captures the bustle of the entire crew as they get busy around the set, all stunningly shot in silhouettes. The scene features background chatter and overlapping dialogue from the recognisable voices of George Clooney and Adam Sandler as they walk and talk, along with others, such as sound and camera technicians, who are either checking or prepping their equipment before the shooting begins. I admire the fluidity of the camerawork navigating through the set, reminiscent of a tour surrounding the inner workings of a film production.
There’s another scene, which happens much later, with a poignant stretch of Clooney’s title character, along with the rest of the audience in a packed cinema hall, watching the retrospective of his acting career, showcasing clips from some of his movies in a meta approach. These two particular scenes are among the best directions that Noah Baumbach, marking his return to the director’s chair after 2022’s White Noise, has ever executed. One of the best movies of the year? I wish that were the case; if only the rest of the movie were as great as the two said set pieces.
Baumbach, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Mortimer, focuses on the professional and personal life of Jay Kelly, a renowned movie star who has just reached sixty years of age. He’s a dedicated actor, evidently, in the opening scene where he requests the director for another take to ensure everything is perfect. The movie also introduces Ron Sukenick (Sandler), a friend and a manager who has been devoted to working for Jay for many years. Then, there’s Liz (Laura Dern), who serves as Jay’s publicist.
As a person, Jay comes across as a self-absorbed individual who has been overly pampered by wealth, fame and ego until he neglects the people around him that supposedly matter the most. A few of them, actually, like how his two equally estranged daughters — Jessica (Riley Keough) and Daisy (Grace Edwards) — don’t get along with him. Or how he refuses to do Peter Schneider (Jim Broadbent) a favour, an ageing director and mentor who gave Jay a big break months before his death.
Not to mention Tim (Billy Crudup), whom Jay stumbles upon after Schneider’s funeral. Tim and Jay used to be best friends back in the day — Louis Partridge and Charlie Rowe played the respective younger versions — until a certain audition changed everything. I enjoy the part during their awkward reunion after running into each other decades later. Crudup steals every scene here in a small but crucial role as a former friend who’s been resenting Jay for so long, blaming him for ruining his life. Let’s just say their reunion doesn’t end well, to the point where Jay made a drastic decision by dropping out of his upcoming film and flying to Europe.
From here, it’s a sentimental journey of self-discovery for Jay, with the protracted midsection being pretty much a hit-and-miss. The 132-minute runtime tends to meander around in some scenes, while I can’t help with some of the melodramatic excesses that grow too mawkish for their own good. Still, what keeps Jay Kelly from being a maudlin comedy-drama is Clooney, whose effortless movie-star charm remains one of the movie’s biggest assets. He is equally backed by solid support all around, covering Sandler to Dern, along with the aforementioned Crudup and even notable cameo appearances such as Jim Broadbent and Patrick Wilson, where the latter shows up as one of Ron’s clients.
Jay Kelly is streaming on Netflix.
