George Clooney has been active in cinema for over thirty-five years. After spending most of his twenties on television and theatre, the charismatic actor first made his mark as Dr. Doug Ross on the medical drama ER. For a couple of years, he branched out into feature films while remaining on television. Upon quitting ER in the late 90s, Clooney focused on Hollywood movies and established himself as an A-List star with films such as Out of Sight, The Perfect Storm, Oh Brother Where Are Thou, the Ocean’s 11 trilogy, Michael Clayton, Burn After Reading, and Up in the Air. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 2005 film Syriana. In recent years, Clooney has taken on other jobs besides acting. He made his directorial debut with Good Night and Good Luck, which he also wrote and produced. Subsequent films of this nature included Letterheads, The Ides of March, and Monuments Men. More recently, Clooney made his Broadway debut by starring, writing, and co-producing a stage adaptation of Good Night and Good Luck.

Netflix

Now, Clooney is back with his latest film from acclaimed director Noah Baumbach (The Squid and the Whale, Marriage Story). Written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, Jay Kelly is a comedy-drama film that focuses on Clooney’s titular character, a beloved and respected movie star. The cast includes Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Grace Edwards, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson, and Greta Gerwig. Despite his massive success, Jay deeply struggles in his personal life. He’s been married and divorced a few times. His daughters Jessica (Keough) and Daisy (Edwards) have very little to do with him, as work has taken priority most of the time. Jessica works as a teacher, while Daisy is a college student. Jay’s put-upon manager Ron Sukenick (Sandler) and and long-suffering publicist Liz (Dern) are essentially his surrogate family in organizing his schedule, planning events, and helping him navigate difficult situations. Unfortunately, this ruled-by-the-clock existence tends to come at the expense of their own personal lives and families.

After wrapping production on his latest film, Jay tries to reach out to Daisy before she heads off to college, but she refuses to spend time with him. Then Jay learns that his friend and longtime mentor Peter Schneider (Broadbent) has just died. It was Peter who first gave him his big break in movies. Since Jay didn’t have a good relationship with his own father (Stacy Keach), he took to Peter and came to view him as a parental figure. The passing leaves Jay deeply affected, because he had recently refused to help out the older man with securing financing for his next project. When Jay goes to Peter’s funeral, he encounters his old friend Tim Galligan (Crudup), with whom he went to acting school. After the ceremony, the two go out for drinks, and it becomes apparent that Tim, who left acting and became a therapist, is bitter over Jay having the movie career that he wanted. Tim starts a brawl and hits Jay, which leads to the latter fighting back in self defense. When Tim files a lawsuit for battery, the media jumps on the story, much to the chagrin of Ron and Liz.

Netflix

In the wake of the fight, Jay decides to quit his next movie in favour of following Daisy to Europe. This puts a strain on his working relationship with Ron, who urges him to stay with the film or else risk damaging his career. Undaunted, Jay resolves to spend time with Daisy. He decides to go accept an award at a film festival as a pretext for going to Europe. Using his connections and the AMEX card activity of Daisy’s friend, Jay heads off to France with Ron and Liz. He ends up taking a train that his daughter is riding, which leads to him getting quickly recognized as a celebrity. An act of theft leads Jay to chasing down the thief, and he is lauded as a hero by the other passengers. Ron and Liz theorize this will counter the negative publicity gained by Tim’s lawsuit, but Jay is more focused on fixing his troubled relationship with Daisy.

Flashbacks focus on Jay (Charlie Rowe) during his early-to-late twenties. After tagging along to an audition to support Tim (then played by Louis Partridge), Jay is asked to read lines for Peter and ends up getting a coveted leading role that rockets him to stardom. This incident put a damper on his friendship with Tim, who felt screwed over by his friend. While working on another film, he has an affair with co-star Daphne Spender (Eve Hewson), and this leads to the end of his first marriage. Despite his best intentions, Jay has difficulty in connecting and opening up to people. As Jay and Ron approach the film festival, their relationship reaches a breaking point that might change the dynamics between them. Furthermore, it will all boil down to a decision that Jay must make about how he wants to live his life.

Clooney does an excellent job as Jay. At 64, the actor manages to convey a sense of suaveness with feelings of complexity. He succeeds at making Jay a flawed yet likeable protagonist. Unlike his previous conman and charmer roles, Clooney depicts a middle-aged man who’s at the top of his game professionally yet frequently comes up short in his personal life. While some might claim the film character is based on Clooney, this is not exactly true, given the gulf that Jay has created between himself and the people he loves. His efforts to examine his life while trying to find a way forward are both relatable and moving to watch.

Netflix

Adam Sandler is quite impressive in this film. Having mostly made comedies in his career, the Saturday Night Live alumni ventures into rare dramatic territory with the role of Ron. The character serves as Jay’s moral conscience, and one can’t help but feel saddened for the toll it has taken on him to drop everything to help his client. His shining moment comes in the third act when making a choice about career versus family, and Sandler really sells the gravitas of said scene. It makes one wonder how well Sandler would do if he kept starring in more drama roles, considering he has played serious characters in Punch Drunk Love, Reign O’er Me and Uncut Gems. Laura Dern is reliable and sympathetic as Liz, who serves as Jay’s voice of reason. Having previously collaborated with Baumbach in Marriage Story (for which she won an Oscar), Dern comes off as down-to-earth, realistic, and logical in nature. By far, the actress is one of the most welcome presences in the film. She manages to bring her A game and stand opposite Clooney and Sandler.

Netflix

The rest of the cast does well in their roles. Billy Crudup plays Tim as an affable type whose pleasant demeanour masks a deep bitterness over how his life has turned out. It is quite a contrast from the nice guy and uncertain roles he’s portrayed in Almost Famous and Big Fish. Riley Keough (Mad Max: Fury Road) plays Jessica as level-headed and matter-of-fact in her scenes opposite Clooney, and she almost serves as a counterpart to Liz in some form. Grace Edwards brings a troubled, frustrated dimension to Daisy, and her lashing out at her father is heartbreaking to watch. The fact that both women hold their own against the veteran actor is quite impressive. Jim Broadbent is amiable and endearing as Peter, and you really believe the English thespian as a director and pseudo-father figure in his scenes. Charlie Rowe is in an interesting position as the younger Jay, because he has to bring a young Clooney to mind while not doing a vocal impersonation of him. He chooses to focus on body language and underplaying certain scenes, which makes for a layered performance. This is a unique choice, because the viewers get brief glimpses of the older man within the young upstart.

Sharp-eyed viewers might recognize various clips from Clooney’s vast filmography in a montage during the third act. These samples include The Thin Red Line, The Peacemaker, Ocean’s Eleven, Syriana, Michael Clayton, Letterheads, Burn After Reading, Up In The Air, and The American. While some could call this self-serving, it stands a neat way of recognizing Clooney’s body of work as an actor. Baumbach and Mortimer’s script keeps the focus on the characters and conflict. While there are nice visuals in the film depicting Los Angeles, France, and Italy, they never feel like set pieces or distracting to the viewer. Editor Valerio Bonelli keeps the narrative moving along at a brisk pace of two hours and 12 minutes, but it doesn’t feel long or dragging. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren keeps the camera focused on the actors and never lets the visuals get in the way of the performances.

Netflix

Overall, Jay Kelly is one of the year’s best films. Clooney turns in another stellar dramatic turn an actor. Special praise must be given for Sandler and Dern for their captivating roles. This is one of Baumbach’s finest works as a director. Four out of four stars.