Jay Kelly Review

An Exploration of Fame That is Far Too Nice to Its Aging Star

By: Marc Kozak

Jay Kelly

An Exploration of Fame That is Far Too Nice to Its Aging Star

By: Marc Kozak

If you are allergic to movies about the internal sadness and existential crises of the rich and famous, close this review and forget you ever heard about “Jay Kelly.” Noah Baumbach’s latest is a character study of an aging actor in the middle of a personality crisis, the kind of dashing, über-celebrity that coasts through life without a care in the world until middle age hits and they start to wonder far too late if maybe they aren’t a very good person.

If you’re looking for a real-world comparison, think someone like George Clooney, who just so happens to star as Mr. Kelly himself, lending the character the credibility of one of the few people on earth who viewers would buy in such a role. Clooney is the kind of A-list star that everyone feels like they know, a guy whose political opinions and marital problems are more familiar to us than those of our closest friends. But obviously, we don’t really know this man at all – he presumably has his own struggles, dreams, and relationship dramas that none of us know a thing about.

These are the things that Baumbach is interested in exploring with “Jay Kelly” – whether or not those things are interesting to us mere common folk is another thing entirely. The result is watchable and even mostly enjoyable thanks to its upbeat vibe and effortlessly charming stars, but it’s also far too afraid or unwilling to attack Clooney/Kelly with any real bite, presenting his flaws with an “aw shucks” attitude that rings hollow and overly artificial. It’s hard to imagine anyone getting anything out of this that they didn’t already know, which makes for a mildly entertaining but ultimately weightless exploration of fame.

We open on the bustling chaos of a movie set, assistants and crew members buzzing around at full speed while Jay prepares to give an emotional monologue. We meet his manager Ron (Adam Sandler, giving a surprisingly effective understated performance) who comforts and cajoles Jay with the tone of a parent placating their child. On set, Jay convinces the crew to do one more take, secure in the power and respect that he commands in the industry. Off set, we learn that his confidence is starting to crumble.

" It’s hard to imagine anyone getting anything out of this that they didn’t already know, which makes for a mildly entertaining but ultimately weightless exploration of fame. "

A few events happen in quick succession that threaten to disrupt the routine of film sets and gala events. Jay had planned to spend the summer with his youngest daughter and new high school graduate Daisy (Grace Edwards), but she decides instead to jet off to Italy for an arts festival. This means that for the first time, Jay will be on his own at home, particularly since he’s already estranged from his eldest daughter Jessica (Riley Keough) and his ex-wives are no longer in the picture.

Jay also gets a few blasts from the past, including the news that the director who gave him his first shot (Jim Broadbent) recently passed away. We get flashbacks to Jay’s last meeting with the man, where he begged Jay to fund his latest project, which Jay declined, triggering a new wave of guilt amid the grief.

Jay then runs into an old friend at the director’s funeral, an old roommate and acting buddy named Timothy (Billy Crudup). The meeting starts friendly but eventually turns ugly when it’s revealed that Timothy has harbored a deep hatred for Jay since he essentially stole his career by upstaging him at an audition when the two were younger. The confrontation ends with Jay punching Timothy, which of course is caught on tape and leaked to the media.

All of these troubles and past misdeeds start to really get to Jay, who impulsively decides to ditch his next movie and fly to Italy to find his daughter while also accepting a previously-turned-down appearance at a tribute to his work (conveniently also located in Italy). As his manager Ron and publicist Liz (Laura Dern) do their best to try to clean up the mess being left in Jay’s wake, all of the figures from Jay’s past start to converge in Italy as his emotional downward spiral leads to increasingly erratic behavior.

Most of the journey to Italy is played for laughs, but it also features quite a few scenes that feel entirely too manufactured. Jay waltzes through a passenger train full of overly fascinated normal folk in a sequence that rings about as true as one of those PR pieces where a politician spends some time in jeans talking to “real people.” When a robber snatches the purse of an old lady, Jay chases him off the train and tackles him in heroic fashion, gaining further adoration from the people on the train and scoring PR points in the media. None of these things seem to serve any other purpose than to neatly keep Jay on his journey, with the script’s strings clearly on display.

Even less effective is the quick and sudden stop to try and establish some kind of past romance between manager Ron and publicist Liz, two underdeveloped characters whom we had only previously seen dutifully serving Jay. It’s all in service of setting up a confrontation between Ron and Jay – are the two men actually friends or, as Jay cruelly points out, can they even be friends when Jay pays Ron’s salary? Sandler is incredibly sympathetic as the guy who has given his blood, sweat and tears for Jay for decades, finally deciding that he’s had enough of being trodden on by a guy who is probably not even capable of seeing him as a friend, much less an equal. These parts only ring true due to the brilliant work of Sandler, who really sells a character barely containing his rage under the cool and calm façade that’s been maintained for an entire career.

And what are we supposed to make of this Jay Kelly, a man being celebrated for a lifetime of acting excellence, even as anyone he’s ever been close to has suffered collateral damage due to his casual indifference? Jay always assumed he’d fix all of his personal problems later, but all of those people got tired of waiting around and have left him alone, leaving him to attend his own career retrospective by himself.

Baumbach doesn’t exactly aim for a redemption arc, but he is still far too kind to Kelly as the movie winds to a close. Nicholas Britell’s score soars as we watch a montage of Kelly/Clooney’s work that is screened at the awards ceremony, an ending that evokes the movie montage at the end of “Babylon,” clearly designed to pull on the heartstrings and produce tears in the audience. Kelly’s last line hints at a bit of ambiguity – was his life of damaged personal relationships worth it if the result was a spectacular acting career full of moments that touched people around the world? Or would he trade it all for a circle of real friends and a close family? You may find yourself not really caring by this point, even if the top-notch craft and movie-making magic does its best to get you to feel something. But as the movie has shown us, Jay Kelly just isn’t someone who is worth the energy.