Review: Jay Kelly

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Official Synopsis: Famous movie actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) embarks on a journey of self-discovery, confronting his past and present with his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler). Poignant and humor-filled, pitched at the intersection of regrets and glories

It's only natural that George Clooney play a famous movie star in a flick like this. I wonder how much of it he can actually relate to? Jay is pretty out of touch, but longs to get to know the "real" people (us plebs) and his two daughters, who don't want much to do with him. All while his employees, mainly Ron scramble around him. 

I can see why this is popping up on a lot of awards season lists. Hollywood loves "movies about movies" after all, but while I think it's a huge step up from Noah Baumbach's last effort, White Noise, I just wasn't that impressed with Jay Kelly overall. It's fine. Clooney is good, Sandler is great, I liked the way we see Jay watch his memories, but the film introduces so many side stories and just leaves them hanging. It's a mess of ideas and awkward moments

In a way, this film reminds me of the HBO series Six Feet Under. It had moments of greatness, has a tremendous ending, but is uneven over all. I think Netflix distributing this is perfect, because I think I'd be a bit more sour on it had I paid theater money, but watching it from the comfort of my own home? It's fine. 

We should probably be talking about how Adam Sandler never misses with his dramatic performances. 

Grade: B-

Comments

  1. thevoid99December 14, 2025 at 6:56 PM

    I hope to see this likely next year though I have heard good things about this. Especially for Adam Sandler as I really did like the last film he did with Noah Baumbach in The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). I also have to give Sandler credit for mixing things up now as there was a period in the early 2010s where he was just making awful derp-de-derp films. Thank goodness for Baumbach and the Safdies to realize his worth.

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