Producers: David Heyman, Amy Pascal and Noah Baumbach Director: Noah Baumbach Screenplay: Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer Cast: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Grace Edwards, Stacy Keach, Jim Broadbent, Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson, Greta Gerwig , Alba Rohrwacher, Giovanni Zeqireya, Josh Hamilton, Lenny Henry, Emily Mortimer, Nicôle Lecky, Thaddea Graham, Isla Fisher, Louis Partridge, Charlie Rowe, Jamie Demetriou, Patsy Ferran, Lars Eidinger, Théo Augier, Kyle Soller and Giovanni Esposito Distributor: Netflix
Grade: C+
The shadow of “8½” looms large over Noah Baumbach’s tale of an actor looking back at his life and regretting choices he’s made, but “Jay Kelly” has little of the resonance and imagination of Fellini’s masterpiece. It’s basically a sentimental Hollywood-based dramedy with George Clooney’s natural magnetism holding it together as a Hollywood icon and Adam Sandler adding some hangdog poignance as his ever-loyal manager Ron Sukenick, who has regrets too; and by the time it’s over, it comes across as even less insightful a tribute to Fellini than Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories.”
The movie begins with a long tracking shot meandering through the crew of a studio set—an effect nicely managed by cinematographer Linus Sandgren—before the camera comes to rest on the picture’s star Kelly (Clooney), supposedly shot in the stomach and resting against a wall. After a dog enters the scene prematurely, the director calls for another take, Clooney delivers Jay’s lines, and requests yet a third take—“Can we do it again?”—before being assured that it was perfect.
Walking off the set, Jay’s informed by Ron that his mentor Peter Schneider (Jim Broadbent), who’d given him his first break, has died. Jay ruefully remembers his last meeting with Peter, when he declined to let his name be used to help get a film with which Schneider hoped to revive his career greenlit. He and Ron then attend Peter’s funeral, where the dead man’s son gives Kelly one of his father’s kerchiefs, which Jay carelessly passes on to Ron.
While there an old acquaintance approaches Jay—Tim (Billy Crudup), a pediatrician who was his roommate when both were studying under an acting coach (Lenny Henry). After the service they decide to meet for coffee at one of their old haunts, and Tim recalls what’s become a defining moment in Jay’s biography, which we see in another flashback—how young Jay (Charlie Rowe) volunteered to accompany Tim (Louis Partridge) to an audition for a part in Schneider’s movie, and asked to read the part himself after Tim had been dismissed, winning the role that jumpstarted his career while Tim remained in obscurity. Tim admits that he’s still angry over how Jay stole his chance at fame (so he thinks), and the two men scuffle, with Jay winding up with a black eye and Tim, we learn, with a broken nose over which he might well sue.
Thus begins Jay’s look back at his life, particularly how he neglected his daughters Jessica (Riley Keough) and Daisy (Grace Edwards) in pursuit of Hollywood success. He goes to visit the estranged Jessica, who forces him to listen to her New Agey analyst, aged surfer-turned-guru Carter (a funny cameo by Josh Hamilton), read an accusatory letter she’s written; and when Jay learns that Daisy is about to go off on a trip to Europe with friends and her boyfriend (Théo Augier) rather than spend time with him before leaving for college, he impulsively cancels the next movie Ron’s arranged for him and decides instead to attend a tribute in his honor at a film festival in Tuscany—though his actual purpose, of course, is to “bump into” Daisy on her trip. Unfortunately, he’d previously declined the invitation, and Ron had persuaded the festival instead to honor another of his clients, Ben Alcock (Patrick Wilson). He now scrambles to have them add Kelly to the ceremony.
So Jay is off to Europe, requiring his entourage—Ron, his publicist Liz (Laura Dern), his makeup person Candy (Emily Mortimer, who also co-wrote the script), his bodyguard Silvano (Giovanni Zeqireya) and other hangers-on—to suddenly leave their families behind and accompany him, as Ron’s wife Lois (Greta Gerwig) pointedly notes. Jay’s received with adulation by other passengers on the train he’s learned Daisy is taking from France to Italy, though she’s much less welcoming, telling him she’s decided to put off college. He does, however, earn some good publicity to counteract Tim’s threatened lawsuit when he chases down a thief (Lars Eidinger) who’s stolen an elderly lady’s purse, even though he’s embarrassed to be hailed as some kind of real-life hero after he learns the man was off his meds. Moreover, Liz and Candy abandon the trip, leaving Ron as Jay’s sole support.
Baumbach mixes the mild laughter and tears he’s cultivated up to this point at the festival as well, presenting the Italian hosts, including frazzled VIP coordinator (Alba Rohrwacher) and festival organizer Antonio (Giovanni Esposito) as comic figures while presenting Alcock as both a contrast to Jay (he brings along his devoted wife played by Isla Fisher and their numerous kids) and an ambitious twerp (he fires Ron for failing to give him enough attention). The combination is most pronounced, though, in the person of Jay’s father (Stacy Keach), a retired Joh Deere employee Ron’s persuaded to attend who charms the locals with his salty manner but overlooks no opportunity to belittle his son’s accomplishments and brusquely leaves before the closing ceremony.
Baumbach ends the film with another nod to “8½”—a filmed tribute to Kelly in the form of a montage of clips from Clooney’s own films, during which he scans the audience to see acquaintances both alive and dead—Schneider and Tim among them—though only Ron has remained with him, loyal to the last. They don’t all dance around in a circle to the strains of Nino Rota’s carnival music, but they might as well.
Clooney’s charisma carries the movie; he makes Jay likable even as he frets over his domestic failures and wonders whether Tim was right. But Sandler is an important ingredient, his nice-guy persona suggesting that Ron’s loyalty is more than a mere business arrangement, and that there’s more to his client than just a slick exterior. There’s a great deal of star power in the supporting cast, but among them only Crudup and Keach register strongly, one at the start of the film and the other toward the close.
That’s hardly the fault of actors like Dern or Broadbent, but of the script, which never delves very deeply into any of the characters, even Jay and Ron. The result is an agreeable but lightweight picture that promises more insight than it delivers, easy to watch but leaving very little impact.
It is, however, nicely appointed. Mark Tildesley’s production design has elegance in the California sequences upfront, and the European locations that follow are lovely, and nicely shot by Sandgren. Nicholas Britell provides a sprightly score, and while the editing by Valerio Bonelli and Rachel Durance is hardly energetic, the pace rarely becomes sluggish.
“Jay Kelly” is a better showcase for Clooney’s inherent charm than his recent films have been—indeed, it’s probably the best fit since “The Descendants.” But while it’s easy enough to swallow, it doesn’t prove very nutritious.