R | 2h 12m | Dramedy | 2025
Actor Joshua Jackson once reminisced about the single coolest movie-star moment he’d ever seen. He was on the set of “Ocean’s Eleven” with Brad Pitt and George Clooney, and Clooney was holding court, talking about the 12 brand-new Indian motorcycles he’d just had delivered to the sound stage to give to his friends. The caveat was, Clooney was having them shipped out to Italy the next day—his friends would all have to jet-set to Italy to pick them up.
Jackson realized fan-swooning happens to George Clooney so often that it no longer registers in his mind that this is not normal behavior.
So—who better to play movie star Jay Kelly, in Netflix’s “Jay Kelly,” than George Clooney?
Movie Star
George Clooney essentially plays himself in “Jay Kelly.” That’s what megawatt movie stars do. The movie-going public generally has no concept of just how difficult it is to play oneself, but never mind all that—suffice it to say, it’s a richly textured performance.
That said, while the rebranded-as-a-serious-actor Adam Sandler helps bolster “Jay Kelly,” it’s a showbiz-centric dramedy that’s not all that relatable. It’s about one man’s contemplation of his movie star legacy, but few of us breathe this kind of rarified air. The unspoken sentiment that hangs in the air for two-plus hours is: “First world problems.”
The film opens with a title-card quote from Sylvia Plath: “It’s a hell of a responsibility to be yourself. It’s much easier to be somebody else or nobody at all.” Then, there’s a meandering, extended shot that works its way through a film set crew before settling on the titular character, Kelly, a 60-something movie star filming a scene. When his canine co-star makes a premature entry on-set, Kelly wants another take, though the director assures him they already got the shot.
Self-Reflection
Informed that Peter Schneider (Jim Broadbent), Jay’s mentor and the first director to give the up-and-coming youthful Jay (Charlie Rowe) his big break—has passed away, Jay begins to reminisce. “All my memories are movies,” Jay realizes.
The relationships in his life that should have mattered all took a backseat to the pampered comfort of his career. Jay wakes up at this life crossroads and hopes to mend neglected relationships before it’s too late.
Daughters Unhappy With Dad
Daisy has made it abundantly clear that she doesn’t want him around, but Jay’s clueless, self-involved nature leads him to think she does. Dragging the long-suffering Ron and Liz with him, he opts to walk among the little people and ride the train with them, sans his usual travel luxuries, and so on and so forth.
Between Daisy’s annoyance, his eldest daughter Jessica’s (Riley Keough) lifelong feelings of abandonment, and his nonexistent emotional connection to his father (Stacy Keach), it’s perfectly clear why Jay’s memories are all tied to his film career.
Overall
