Jay Kelly (2025)

	Directed by: Noah Baumbach	COUNTRY United Kingdom/USA GENRE Comedy/Drama NORWEGIAN TITLE Jay Kelly RUNNING TIME 132 minutes
	Produced by: Noah Baumbach Amy Pascal David Heyman
	Written by: Noah Baumbach Emily Mortimer

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Jay Kelly	George Clooney	½
Ron Sukenick	Adam Sandler	½
Liz	Laura Dern	½
Timothy Galligan	Billy Crudup
Jessica Kelly	Riley Keough
Daisy Kelly	Grace Edwards	½
Mr. Kelly	Stacy Keach	½
Peter Schneider	Jim Broadbent	½
Ben Alcock	Patrick Wilson
Daphne Spender	Eve Hewson	-
Lois Sukenick	Greta Gerwig	-
Alba	Alba Rohrwacher	-
Carter	Josh Hamilton	-
Larry	Lenny Henry	-
Candy	Emily Mortimer	-

Review

Noah Baumbach looks to recreate the easy-going charm and gusto of Old Hollywood comedies with the occasionally effervescent but ultimately underwhelming Jay Kelly, starring George Clooney as an ageing Hollywood star who travels to Europe to reflect on his life and all the things he has forsaken in his quest for fame and fortune. The nucleus of the story is his long-standing friendship with his manager, Ron (Adam Sandler), and his strained relationship with his two daughters (Riley Keough, Graec Edwards). The former provides the film's most touching and effective moments; the latter remains the cliché it starts out as. A successful man who was not a good father because he was never around is not only a worn theme in films in general, but when treated through the prism of a movie star and his privileged children, it requires more depth and specificity than Baumbach offers here in order to raise more than a mild interest.

In the end, Jay Kelly never transcends fairly trifling genre fare, marked by its uninspired writing and bland characters, with the possible exception of Sandler's. There are too many segments designed to add a vibe of casual familiarity or function as poignant seasoning, but instead come off as contrived distractions – such as the train ride, featuring supporting characters who are meant to be ordinary Europeans yet are anything but. It culminates in a baffling theft-and-chase sequence that is neither here nor there. And as Jay finally reaches his ceremony in Tuscany, and looks across the auditorium, visualising various familiar faces from his past, it feels less like a genuine remembrance of a life truly lived than Baumbach's own retrospective of the film's characters.