Jay Kelly
Jay Kelly
Starring George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Jay Kelly (George Clooney) is a famous actor that's lost contact with his older daughter, but hopes to spend the summer with his younger daughter Daisy (Grace Edwards) before she goes to college. After completing his latest movie, however, he learns Daisy is going to Northern Italy with friends before school, and he realizes the life he's missed out on. Abandoning his next project, he tells his manager Ron Sukenick (Adam Sandler) that he's going to Italy to be with his daughter, and he's coming with him - despite his own daughter having life events of her own. Together with longsuffering publicist Liz (Laura Dern), Jay, Ron, and his entourage traverse the Italian countryside as Jay experiences interacting with normal people and discovers the true purpose of life.
"Jay Kelly" is one of those small films with a big message, told brilliantly through one of the few actors still living who could easily traverse the past and present, with a supporting character who's better known for stupid comedies but comes out with a stellar performance all his own. Essentially, this is a movie about the heartache of regret and the pitfalls of celebrity, and how far one man would go in order to get a metaphorical chance to "do it all over again."
That man is George Clooney, who has the suave character reminiscent of Clark Gable, James Stewart and Spencer Tracy. You believe he's had a history on the big screen, and he has (in a truly meta moment, during an event honoring the actor, there's reels of his real life movies like "Up in the Air," "Syriana" and "The Perfect Storm"), but he also lives with regret in regard to abandoning his daughters. Utilizing the talents of Riley Keough and Grace Edwards in small, nuanced performances exemplify the story, and the stellar cinematography by Linus Sandgren provides some thought-provoking scenes - in particular, one scene where Jay is in Italy talking to his daughter on the phone, only to have her appear behind a tree and talk to him as if they're standing side-by-side before returning back to the phone conversation. Clooney is made for a role like this, as there's no doubt he has some mistakes in his life that he's had to endure to get to where he is, and he uses that in the role to make it much more personal and realistic.
Realism is something that oozes through each scene, as the three main characters all go through their metamorphoses. Clooney's Jay is the most jarring, as not only is he dealing with neglecting his daughters his whole life, but also the strained relationship with his former best friend who blames him for taking a role that he wanted and "stole his life." There's several scenes that showcase this, and again thanks to the great cinematography they're told in memorable scenes, such as a flashback Jay experiences on a train going into a backlot set. The realism Clooney performs is palpable, which only aids in the believably.
Then there's Laura Dern, who returns to a Noah Baumbach film after her Oscar-winning role in "Marriage Story" to play Liz, Jay's longsuffering publicist who has regrets of her own in serving Jay for decades and having little to nothing to show for it.
Last, and not least, is Adam Sandler's Ron, who has served as Jay's manager for about as long as Liz has also been working for him, and who's sacrificed the most to make Jay's dreams come true. Their connection is an odd one, as for most of the time Ron sees Jay as his friend, but also possibly his most beloved child, especially how he interacts with him and drops everything to stand by his side, including missing a tennis match from his daughter (played by his real-life daughter Sadie Sandler). You see the strain being Jay's manager has taken on him, as he wants to be a great parent and husband to his second wife (played by Baumbach's ex-wife and frequent collaborator Greta Gerwig), but also the friendship he has with Jay - if it's even a friendship at all. Liz points out that Jay pays Ron, so it's not necessarily a friendship but a work deal, and Ron struggles with that aspect.
Choosing to let his characters breathe rather than provide saccharine drama, Baumbach introduces the world to Jay Kelly and thanks to George Clooney's effortless charm, he becomes someone we'll never forget.
The Score: A+
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