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<\/a><\/p>\nSYNOPSIS:<\/p>\n
Famous movie actor Jay Kelly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron. Poignant and humor-filled, pitched at the intersection of regrets and glories.<\/p>\n
Noah Baumbach introduces George Clooney\u2019s Jay Kelly with a beautiful behind-the-scenes one-take that hints we\u2019re about to get a wizard\u2019s curtain look at what it takes to make it in Hollywood. It\u2019s another stab at Babylon with the Netflix bucks, or Jerry Maguire in the acting world. In a way, that\u2019s what this muddled melodrama is, but the journey is so downright odd that it\u2019s difficult to care about anything that\u2019s going on.<\/p>\n Clooney is an aging icon, essentially playing himself, who instead of taking a part in a project directed by two of Hollywood\u2019s up-and-coming stars, is triggered into going on a European vacation to stalk his youngest daughter. This throws his entourage into a panic. A ragtag group of highly strung enablers that includes Adam Sandler\u2019s agent, Laura Dern\u2019s PA, and Emily Mortimer\u2019s stylist.<\/p>\n On this Planes, Trains and Automobiles journey, Jay steps into scenes from the past \u2013 his big break and the moral ramifications of it, meeting the mother of his first child, or letting down a director he loved dearly. They are all played with melancholy, a soft-focus sadness befitting of a movie loaded with regret. If that tone had been sustained then Jay Kelly might have earned the empathy and heart that it so yearns for.\u00a0<\/p>\n However, these moments are peppered throughout a film that\u2019s tonally all-over-the-place. At one stage it appears Clooney has stepped into a sitcom as he boards a train and is confronted by a conveyor belt of the broadest characters imaginable. It\u2019s so heightened and over-the-top that any intended mirth is rendered redundant by the fact you\u2019re bemused by the creative choices. It\u2019s a reaction that\u2019s repeated as they visit Italy, where they encounter even more of these cartoonish characters, and it all culminates in a baffling chase across a field, the conclusion of which elicits the wrong kind of laughter.<\/p>\n It\u2019s all the more jarring because the cast are putting in awards-worthy performances. Clooney is magnificent in the contemplative moments; the discussions with his eldest daughter (the terrific Riley Keough), a reunion with his old drama school \u201cbudd-ay\u201d Tim (a phenomenal turn from Billy Crudup), and a final-reel encounter with his ball-busting father (Stacy Keach). These are the times when Kelly becomes Clooney, intentionally blurring that line, grounding the character in reality, and that\u2019s when the film lands, when you feel for him, because on-the-whole Jay\u2019s an unlikeable and empty presence. But then that\u2019s the whole idea.<\/p>\n The same can\u2019t be said for Sandler, whose beat-down agent is to some extent the audience projection, especially during the more exasperating parts of the film. Better when he\u2019s afforded quieter asides than being part of a broadly painted family that includes the most Jonathan Lipnicki kid since Jonathan Lipnicki, his nice-guy turn will surely land him plenty of nominations come awards season.<\/p>\n In the end Baumbach, who co-wrote the script with Emily Mortimer, can\u2019t decide whether he wants to admonish his star or celebrate him, but by landing somewhere in the middle it dulls the impact of Jay Kelly. The final flourish is a perfect example of this, where Jay sits through a show reel of George Clooney\u2019s finest moments, from The Peacemaker, through Syriana and The Thin Red Line, and it\u2019s hard not to get swept up in the gravitas and emotion of it all, but come the dimming of the lights you begin to wonder whether you or the characters have learned anything at all.<\/p>\n Flickering Myth Rating\u00a0\u2013 Film \u2605 \u2605 \/ Movie \u2605 \u2605<\/p>\n Matt Rodgers \u2013\u00a0Follow me on Twitter<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jay-Kelly-7-600x400.jpg\" "\\"")
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