Jay Kelly (2025) * * *

Directed by: Noah Baumbach

Starring:  George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, Billy Crudup, Grace Edwards

Jay Kelly (Clooney) is played by George Clooney as an aging movie star who begins to question whether fame was worth the price he's paid in his personal life.  He's an amiable person, but his pursuit of glory comes at a price to himself, his family, and those who work for him like his loyal manager Ronnie (Sandler) and publicist Liz (Dern).  Even they start questioning how much more they can sacrifice for the man who pays their bills.  Noah Baumbach's movie doesn't necessarily cover new ground, but it approaches the topic with sensitivity and with the understanding that 99.9 % of the world's actors wish they had Jay Kelly's problems. 

Jay finished wrapping a movie when he learns the director who discovered him, Peter Schneider (Broadbent) has died.  Jay then feels pangs of guilt when he recalls a conversation six months earlier when Peter begged him to assist in his comeback film which Jay declined.  Peter cast Jay in his first movie after Jay accompanied his friend Tim (Crudup) to an audition and was asked to read.  This caused years of pent-up bitterness in Tim which manifests itself during a get-together with Jay at a Hollywood bar.  Their conversation is civil and reminiscent, but we sense Tim resents Jay and later he admits to hating him.  "You stole my life," Tim says before starting a fistfight which may or may not cause Jay publicity headaches down the road. 

Jay wants to spend time with his daughter Daisy (Edwards), who intends to travel around Europe during the summer before freshman year of college.  She says she wants to see the world, but we know she doesn't want to see her father.  Jay's oldest daughter Jessica (Keough) has already become estranged from her dad.  Jay decides to follow Daisy to Italy, where he will reluctantly participate in a lifetime tribute orchestrated by Ronnie.  Ronnie is having problems at home, but it is apparent he has had many such problems over the years which he pushed aside for Jay's needs.  How much more will Ronnie continue to put his client's needs over his own?  Liz decides she's had enough and her exit scene is one in which she literally and figuratively gets off the train as far as Jay is concerned.

Jay is not an overbearing jerk, just someone who doesn't realize his own selfishness until it's staring him in the face.  He's aloof to the damage he has caused to those who love him.  He justifies it in a confessional phone call to Jessica, who has long since estranged herself from him because she knows him so well, maybe even too well.  Clooney gives us a Jay Kelly who is of course good-looking and suave, but also one capable of introspection and emotional intelligence.   The issue becomes whether such traits have come too late to allow for reconciliation.  The conclusion of Jay Kelly takes place at the tribute to Kelly where he asks himself whether he can do a retake, almost as if he wanted to reshoot a scene which wasn't perfect.  Then he realizes he cannot and no reboots are possible, even in Hollywood.