Noah Baumbach’s latest charmer has George Clooney at the crossroads.
We begin with George Clooney lying under a bridge next to a police car in the rain. He’s doing a few takes on his next role. You can tell he wants to do better, or maybe he might be at a crossroads in his life. And that’s the subject of Noah Baumbach’s latest movie “Jay Kelly.”
It’s not up to the level of Baumbach’s best works like “The Squid and the Whale” or “Marriage Story” or his screenplays of “Fantastic Mr. Fox” or “Barbie,” but it does work as an actor’s study. It regards a certain point in a celebrity’s life, and chooses Clooney with the kind of vulnerabilities that makes his performance likable.
The title character and Clooney actor Jay Kelly might not be related to Gene Kelly if we don’t see him dancing, but he does have a lot of baggage in his life. He has a strained relationship with his two daughters: Jessica (Riley Keough) is a kindergarten teacher and the other one Daisy (Grace Edwards) goes on a trip from Paris to Italy. Just as he’s in the middle of filming a movie, he decides to surprise his traveling daughter with his manager and best friend Ron (Adam Sandler) and his publicist Liz (Laura Dern) accompanying him.
It would be enviable that he would be on a train with fans approaching him at the station, and him making some friends with the other travelers. And because the train is packed, his team is unable to get him a private car, which he doesn’t seem to care about. At least that’s how I’m seeing those scenes. But he does invite them to his tribute in Tuscany, and of course, we’re going to get a montage of clips from Clooney’s real movies like “Michael Clayton,” “Out of Sight,” or “Burn After Reading.” And there’s also going to be a reunion between him and his egomaniac father (Stacy Keach), as he reluctantly invites him to the tribute.
Before we get to the traveling story, Jay finds out that his good friend and the director who gave him his shot-Peter Schneider (Jim Broadbent)-passes away. He has made a number of bombs that would eventually develop cult followings, and he even had a script he wanted to share with Jay, but the actor denied it. And after the funeral, he reunites with an old acting buddy of his-Timothy (Billy Crudup)-who actually wants to settle a score with Jay, because he stole his big break.
Now before we get to the trip, I was expecting the film to have Jay honor his deceased friend by getting his screenplay green lit, but this doesn’t go into fruition. I was, however, reminded on how I lost a good friend of mine this year named David Kessler. He was once a film projectionist with a wise taste in movies (with “Chinatown” being a great choice for a favorite movie) and an affection for Julie Christie. So, at the very least, I was able to reminisce on him.
The screenplay (which was also written by Emily Mortimer, who also acts in the film) has to be a little cynical, but it can also allow the characters to deal with their own turmoil. Not just Jay, but also for Ron, who used to date Liz and may soon be fired by another celebrity named Ben Alcock (Patrick Wilson). And Sandler is very good in the notion he’s placed in.
“Jay Kelly” likes to have that old fashioned charm with the characterizations of the actors and their assistants, friends, and family. It regards how they would distinguish themselves as celebrities and parents, and how the people around them would view them based on their performances on film and their social lives. Clooney plays Jay Kelly with those qualities.
In Select Theaters This Friday
Streaming on Netflix December 5th
