Jay Kelly

There is an expectation that comes with a new Noah Baumbach film (Frances Ha, The Squid and the Whale, Marriage Story). You sit down expecting something essential and maybe a little bruising. Jay Kelly arrives with that same promise and a tuxedo full of movie stars and for a while, it looks like it might be his leap into deliverying an elevated crowd-pleaser. Instead, it settles into something more modest and oddly charming. 

George Clooney plays Jay Kelly, one of the last movie stars who still believes in movie stars. He floats through life with an entourage, a displaced family and the kind of privilege that insulates you from ever needing to ask why any of it exists. Clooney is basically playing himself with a Cary Grant tilt, and the film knows it. At one point, a stranger on a train calls him out for exactly that. Clooney fires back like a silver screen relic, insisting that playing yourself is harder than it looks. The movie winks.

Somehow, and oddly, all at once everyone who orbits Kelly seems to quietly question why they are there and whether this life is enough. That is fertile Baumbach territory, but Jay Kelly keeps slipping between tones. One minute, it is a melancholy character study, the next it is a travelogue through Tuscany.

The best stretch is an out-of place middle section on a train rolling through Europe. Adam Sandler delivers another reminder that vulnerability is his secret weapon. This is not another against-type tough guy turn. He is open, fragile and quietly devastating. Laura Dern delivers her lines like an Aaron Sorkin classic. Greta Gerwig (his wife and collaborator), Emily Mortimer (co-screenrighter, BIlly Cruddup, Stacy Keach and the rest of the cast all deliver. It's fun in parts.

And yet, when the film finally asks you to care deeply about Jay Kelly, it runs into trouble. The ending aims for a poetic bookend to the opening shot, complete with a quote that wants to be immortal. It does not quite earn it. Jay remains too insulated, too entitled and too vaguely sketched for the emotional payoff to fully work. You enjoy watching him but you do not ache for he and his Hollywood life.

The comparison that hangs over the film is Sentimental Value, another 2025 film about a famous father and his daughters. That film knows exactly what it is building toward and sticks the landing. Jay Kelly prefers to wander, collecting moments instead of meaning.

In a nutshell: There is plenty to enjoy. The dialogue snaps. Tuscany looks incredible. The scenes, taken individually, are often wonderful.

Where to find it: Watch it in theaters or on Netflix.

Would it be better with Olivia Colman: Absolutely.

Awards potential: Golden Globe nominees Clooney and Sandler both have a shot as the Oscar nominees become 10 not 24, but Sandler feels like the real long-shot contender, especially in supporting actor. The screenplay by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer should also be in the conversation.

The Ten Buck Review: Not what we hoped from all this talent, but it's still worth ten bucks.