Jay Kelly
When one of America's biggest movie stars who has prioritized career over family realizes that his last chance to spend some quality time with his younger daughter, Daisy (Grace Edwards), has been usurped by her own prioritization of a trip to Europe with friends before she enters college, he upends his entire team and potentially his next movie shoot while reversing his decision to accept a Tuscan tribute to the career of "Jay Kelly."
Laura's Review: B-
Cowriter (with Emily Mortimer, also Jay's hairstylist Candy)/director Noah Baumbach's ("Marriage Story," "White Noise") character study of a sixty year-old movie star who realizes too late that he's pushed away what matters in life is ironically overshadowed by the more emotionally rich portrayal of that man's manager, Ron Sukenick (Adam Sandler), the main character too shallow and self-interested to become invested in. While Clooney's handsome face and megawatt smile pretty much defines Kelly's appeal, the man otherwise looking for love he neglects to dispense, Sandler's quieter background man is the very picture of self sacrifice and unconditional love, the actor's pained expressions speaking volumes. (We should be ever grateful to Paul Thomas Anderson for recognizing Sandler's depth.)
The movie opens with a revelatory Sylvia Plath quote, 'It’s a hell of a responsibility to be yourself. It’s easier to be somebody else or nobody at all.,' which slowly comes into view on a clouded black screen. We are then plunged into a single take tracking shot of a busy soundstage prepping for, then filming, Jay Kelly's death scene in his latest film, one which his young director has to convince doesn't require another take. Back in his trailer, Kelly wonders why there is a piece of cheesecake in every room he enters. Ron's there with the answer - because Kelly once said he liked cheesecake, it's been hardcoded into his contract riders ever since.
We'll see a similar phenomenon at work as Jay chats with Daisy while he cleans his pool. Flustered to learn that she is leaving that very Saturday for a jazz festival in Paris when he has two weeks free, he laments spending the time alone. 'You're never alone,' says Daisy. Jay hands his performative pool net to the man suddenly at his side as his ever present bodyguard hands him a drink.
Ron arrives at his home with the news that the man who gave Jay his first big break, director Peter Schneider (Jim Broadbent), has passed, and, attending the funeral, Jay runs into his old roommate Tim (Billy Crudup) and suggests going out for a drink to catch up. Ron, who has claimed and will wear the neckerchief Peter's son gave to Jay as a keepsake, warns the man not to drink too much. At first Jay and Tim appear to be having a grand old time, but eventually the truth comes out - Jay hijacked the far more talented Tim's audition with Schneider, got the role and Tim's girl. Tim, who is now a child therapist, accuses Jay of stealing his life and the two come to fisticuffs in a parking lot. (The shocked look on Clooney's face when Crudup begins to shove him is the actor's purest reaction, fear at the inconceivably unexpected.) The next day Ron, who'd informed Jay he would be in a tennis tournament with his daughter, will receive a call on the court from Jay's publicist Liz (laura Dern) insisting he has to come over at once. He'll arrive to find his main client sporting a black eye in a frenzy of packing despite a shoot starting the following Monday. Not for the first time, Liz will mouth 'It's bad!' in Ron's direction and despite Ron's attempts at persuasion, suddenly Jay's whole team is boarding a private plane to Paris while Ron, who'd arranged for that Tuscan tribute to go to his client Ben Alcock (Patrick Wilson), miraculously arranges a second one as cover for Jay's trip all while dealing with the fallout from his public scuffle.
Things get more ridiculous when they arrive in Paris, a member of Jay's entourage tracking Daisy via her friend's credit card use, and, discovering they're skipped the jazz festival and boarded a train, suddenly find themselves racing across Paris in order to head to Italy on said train. While Jay manages to charm an entire train car, fascinated by his exposure to 'ordinary people,' his own begin to fall away and when Liz has had enough, we'll learn the tragedy of her and Ron's ancient history, another of the manager's losses in service of his client (although he is happily married to Lois (Greta Gerwig) who is dealing with their daughter's abandonment stress back home). By the time they arrive in Tuscany, Jay will have won over the public with his retrieval of an old woman's purse from a German cyclist (Lars Eidinger) who jumped off the train, but lost everyone close to him. Flashbacks connect and reconnect him with his older daughter Jennifer (an affecting Riley Keough) and past loves (Eve Hewson) seen on set with his younger self (Louis Partridge, "Enola Holmes"), in stark contrast to Ron's other client Ben, who is there with his wife (Isla Fisher) and extended family. And Ron reflects on his own priorities when Ben reluctantly fires him for not giving him enough attention and Jay flippantly defines him as 'a friend who takes 15%,' a remark that hurts deeply.
Although we've seen the mess Jay has made of his life, Clooney cannot match the embrace we wish to extend to his long suffering manager, even after he's even been deserted by his dad (Stacy Keach), the embarrassingly blunt blue collar guy who Tuscany guest coordinator Alba (Alba Rohrwacher, "The Wonders," HBO's 'My Brilliant Friend') charmingly refers to as Jay's 'daddy.' Even his last, direct camera appeal to do his life over again fails to fly, the desire, as Clooney has defined it, selfish rather than selfless, nothing learned. But Sandler and his Ron save the film, the actor with his genuine heart, Baumbach giving the character his cheesecake and letting him eat it as well.
Netflix releases "Jay Kelly" in NY/LA/SF on November 14th, expanding on November 21st and streaming on December 5th.
