There are few things Hollywood loves more than movies about itself. The behind-the-scenes drama and combustible personalities at best make for interesting cinema and at worst are self-serving and indulgent.
But there will always be movies about the movies because, hey, write what you know.
The movie “Jay Kelly” is about as good as you can hope for when Hollywood looks in the mirror.
The movie is most easily described as one where George Clooney plays himself and Adam Sandler plays his manager.
While that intriguing setup alone might be enough to get people into the theater (or on their couches in a couple of weeks as this is a Netflix joint), there is something more profound at work here thanks to writer/director Noah Baumbach.
Baumbach is currently best known as one half of Hollywood’s preeminent creative power couple with his wife and “Barbie” director Greta Gerwig.
Baumbach has built a career out of making poignant and quirky character studies on indie budgets. And even though the cast of “Jay Kelly” is packed with A-listers, this is still a Baumbach film through and through.
Clooney stars as Jay Kelly, an internationally famous movie star who finds himself neck-deep in a mid-life crisis after a beloved mentor passes away.
Realizing that all of his personal relationships are strained at best, Jay decides to show up uninvited on his 18-year-old daughter Daisy’s (Grace Edwards) trip across Europe.
Because he is a mega-rich, international mega-star, everyone in his professional orbit must drop everything to join him, including bodyguards, hair and makeup crew, and his long-time, long-suffering publicist Liz (Laura Dern) and manager Ron (Sandler).
Because he is self-absorbed and emotionally stunted, Jay is oblivious to the way his whims cause massive upheaval in the lives of those around him, as his fame and fortune have allowed him to paper over a lot of those hurt feelings, especially amongst his staff.
But as Jay starts to realize that maybe he hasn’t been the best human on his quest for movie stardom, things begin to unravel around him in moving and occasionally hilarious ways.
“Jay Kelly” examines how getting older can lead to reflection and regret in ways that could be described as schmaltzy. But this movie also portrays how downright weird it must be to be super famous.
Clooney is as great in this role as you would expect him to be, and Sandler is at his emotional sad-sack best.
“Jay Kelly” has some good life lessons even for those of us who don’t fly by private jet and aren’t recognized everywhere we go. Being a good person still requires effort, no matter what your station in life happens to be.
“Jay Kelly” is rated R for language.
