In theaters now, and coming to Netflix this weekend, Noah Baumbach’s newest film Jay Kelly is a delight for movie nerds everywhere. Starring George Clooney, who’s basically playing himself, the film takes a deep dive into the life of an aging and extremely famous American actor, “Jay Kelly”. Along for the ride are Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, and Patrick Wilson, just to name a few. The laughs are thoughtful, the poignancy is brimming, and the style is extremely assured.
Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer have crafted a perfect screenplay, for the perfect actor, for the perfect time. It’s hard to separate the art from the artist this time around, as George Clooney seems to be putting everything into this role. His life as an actor is put up on the big screen, showing us how surreal and overwhelming the fame and pressure of his career can be. Is it self indulgent, to play such a role after such a long and successful career? 100%. But dammit, if this isn’t one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen all year.
Putting it all on the line
Jay Kelly is a fictitious actor, a graying fox, who’s reaching a point of uncertainty in his life. As he approaches his next film, he backs out, opting to stalk his own daughter around Europe while in the midst of nervous breakdown. But he can’t do it alone! And his entire entourage is with him almost every step of the way.
The film may seem obvious, like, seriously. A movie about an actor, better yet an aging actor, even better yet, an extremely successful and handsome actor whom everyone knows around the world, and he’s played by George Clooney? Duh! But just because something is obvious, it doesn’t make it any less meaningful.
While it certainly seems like the cast was having a lot of fun making this film, I’d think that this was also extremely therapeutic for our boy George. Acting is not just making believe or playing pretend all the time. Sometimes, you’re really putting yourself into a role, and it’s psychologically taxing. This movie captures that to a tee.
Moral support
One of the many, many pleasures of the film is its amazing supporting cast. For one thing, you have Adam Sandler playing Jay’s manager, which in itself feels like an inside joke I am not a part of. The relationship between Ron and Jay is a beautiful one, and there is a clear bond here that feels as rich as any buddy-comedy duo out there.
Laura Dern, (who literally never misses), plays Jay’s publicist, Liz, with a biting cynicism that crackles throughout their bogus journey. While Ron and Jay share a loving bromance, “Liz” is like the babysitter who’s put up with a lot of crap over the years. Her and Sandler share several amazing moments as well, which goes to show, once again, that Sandler is up there with the best of them.
There are far more characters, some cameos, some supporting, that add depth to the story of Jay Kelly’s life. Billy Crudup and Patrick Wilson do a fantastic job playing second fiddles to Jay’s larger than life persona, and that’s all I’ll say about that.
Overall, the casting couldn’t be more perfect, and besides the ironic casting of Clooney as Kelly, everyone else plays their role as distinctly “someone else”.
Daffy dialogue & sentimental scenery
This movie has the best dialogue I have heard in a long time. It’s natural, it’s bizarre, it’s succinct, it’s realistic, and it makes you think hard. The conversations Jay has with the people coming in and out of his life range from light-hearted to treacherous, and one could turn into the other at any moment.
Along the way of his nervous-breakdown-Euro-trip, Jay Kelly faces many obstacles, physical, mental, and emotional. He jumps back in time, looking at old memories in a new light, whilst also traveling through some of the most gorgeous backdrops in all of Europe.
The film never lets you ease back, (in fact, it’s quite anxiety inducing), but the cinematography is always crisp and clear, making it visually digestible, if not always psychologically comforting. Jay Kelly’s odyssey through family drama, social escapades, and Hollywood pressure is a distinctly original one, though I’m sure George Clooney was familiar with all of this territory beforehand.
Life imitates art imitates life imitates…
So, what does it all mean? That’s one of the many questions on the minds of Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, who tackle so much in just over a two hour runtime. Of course, the two have their share of experience between acting, writing and directing, which can be seen clearly in any scene taking place on a movie set.
I think, what the movie is really trying to do, is to celebrate movies. Making a movie is really hard. Acting is really hard. Dealing with fame is really hard. Its messy, its glamorous, and its totally contradictory. There is no right or wrong way to approach filmmaking, as every actor, writer, director etc. is doing it for different reasons.
But something we can all agree on? We love movies. We love movie stars. They may sometimes be pompous, and they may be privileged, but they do the work to entertain us. They do the work so that we may enter that so sacred of spaces, the movie theater, and forget about life for a while.
And yet, very purposefully, this film also makes you think about life- a lot. You don’t have to be a big time Hollywood super star to relate to all or any singular part of Jay Kelly’s story. He’s human, and I think we forget this sometimes. Actors are just like us, they just try to make sense of their lives by playing other people. What George Clooney has done here is a brave thing- he is simply playing himself.
Jay Kelly is now playing in select theaters, and will be hitting Netflix December 5th.
