Jay Kelly Review

Jay Kelly Review

Jay Kelly is the latest awards contender to drop on Netflix. This is one that I’ve been curious to see because of the subject matter, the cast, and the director. How is the movie? Is it actually an awards contender? Let’s talk about it!

The Good

For me, as somebody who’s an aspiring filmmaker and been on a few film sets in the last couple of months. I thought this film was an interesting look into the movie industry and the relationships that come with it. I’m not a veteran in this industry, I don’t have an agent, publicist, and I’m not famous but I could still relate to elements of this movie. I hope I have a career in the movie industry as somebody who wants to, this was an interesting look into that world. The movie starts off on this film set you and feel the hustle and bustle of everything and what every crew member is doing. Some of the criticisms of this movie have come from people thinking it’s too sentimental. There’s some of that in there but I felt like this movie did a good job of showing what Hollywood is like. You get all of the fame and glamor but you also risk a lot. You see the different relationships that actors have with each other, with their management team, and with their family. Maybe I just watched this movie at the right moment in time to enjoy this movie more than I think most people would. 

From there, the movie has a big gigantic heart at the center of it. That was the aspect of the movie that surprised me the most. The movie is about a guy finding himself, reconnecting with his family after spending decades making movies and not watching his kids grow up. The journey of Jay Kelly is this guy figuring himself out. It’s a coming of age story starring a guy in his 60s, in the world of Hollywood and movie making. The entire movie just surprised me with just how emotional the movie can be. It has a big heart at the center of it because you care about Jay Kelly and the people around him. It’s tackling this very relatable concept of missing out and finding your purpose in life through the perspective of Hollywood and movies, it provided a more fresh and unique viewing experience. There’s a very clear character arc for Jay Kelly as something happens that reminds him of the past at the beginning of the movie and we follow him through France trying to figure out who he is. The tagline of the movie is “everybody knows Jay Kelly, but Jay Kelly doesn’t know himself”. That tag line sums up the movie perfectly and the character arc for Jay Kelly. As the movie croshendos in the end at the ceremony where he’s being awarded it wraps the themes and ideas up so well. The movie has something to say but it does it through story and such an emotional way. 

Just a couple days back our two leads of the movie, George Clooney and Adam Sandler received Golden Globe nominations. Both of them are doing a very good job in this movie, they have really solid chemistry between the two of them. You buy into their relationship and see why they appreciate each other but also why they can be annoyed with each other. In the movie Jay Kelly is this handsome charismatic movie star and that’s who George Clooney is in real life. George Clooney is giving a great performance but he’s essentially playing a fictionalized version of himself in this movie. This isn’t the most groundbreaking performance from him or of the year, but for what the movie requires from him he does a good job. He’s able to be charming and likeable while also playing this character that can sometimes be selfish and frustrating. The other one to talk about here is Adam Sandler. He’s been getting more of the awards conversation ever since this movie premiered. He’s very much the heart of the film. This is probably the most subtle that Sandler’s ever been. It feels like every couple of years in between these bad comedies, Sandler gives us a great performance. He’s gotten a few nominations already and I think he’s deserving of all of them. In this movie he’s both dramatic and heartfelt but also has moments of comedy where he drops these funny one liners. The surprising standout of the movie is Billy Crudup. He really only has like one scene in the movie but his scene is so memorable and so important to the movie. The type of character that he’s playing is so fascinating and sets Jay Kelly in motion for the journey that he’s on. You need a great actor like Crudup to play this very complicated character and he does that so well. You also have great actors like Laura Dern and Patrick Wilson filling out the cast in these side characters that are memorable because they’re played by great actors. 

And one of the things to know going into this movie is that it’s really funny. From beginning to end, there’s a nice sharp sense of humor and I thought the jokes worked. The jokes are appropriately placed in the movie as this movie easily could’ve been very heavy and much more dramatic then it actually is. But the jokes give the movie some levity and makes it a more entertaining film then I think it easily could’ve been. There’s a nice spectrum of jokes in here from funny one liners, most of them from Sandler but also just some funny sight gags. There’s one joke early on that happens during a conversation with Clooney and his daughter that’s so clever and simple but it put a big smile on my face. The humor isn’t one dimensional, I think anybody watching it will find some sort of joke and how it’s done that’s clever and will you laugh. 

Finally, I feel it’s important to talk about Noah Baumbach’s direction. There’s a lot of creativity that he brings to this movie to elevate the source material. What I mean by that is there’s some clever in which it uses the classic screenwriting technique “show don’t tell”. With this movie there’s a lot of dream like sequences. Where Jay Kelly is remembering something about his past and we see what happened through his perspective. It happens multiple times throughout the movie and how it transitions from the present to the past was very creative. It’s not over done at all, it happens just the right amount at just the right moments to let the audience know something about Jay Kelly. Some of it is done as a reveal to something that was teased earlier on sometimes it’s done to let the audience know things about Jay Kelly that was told from a different perspective earlier. 

The Bad

The first thing that comes to mind and this is a pretty small thing. This next part is the closest I’m going to get to SPOILERS. If you’re interested in watching this movie but don’t want to have anything spoiled, then don’t read this paragraph. The journey of the movie and the final destination of where Jay Kelly is trying to get to is a film festival where he’s being awarded with a lifetime achievement award. The scene itself is very well done as the culmination of the movie. I think it works. There’s a line of dialogue from Clooney that really tugs at the heart strings. During this, they show clips from Jay Kelly’s career, but in reality it’s clips from George Clooney’s career. I found that to be distracting. Because at that moment you stop seeing Jay Kelly and you start seeing George Clooney. I don’t know what else they could’ve or should’ve done, but I wish they found a way to show the montage but not have it be obvious that it’s clips from George Clooney’s career. When it started it was obvious that it was clips from Clooney’s career. I thought to myself “I bet they’re going to show this clip, this shot from Ocean’s Eleven” and surely enough they did. Like I said, I don’t know what they could’ve done differently but they could’ve found something to not make it as distracting. 

Also, I found the character of Jay Kelly to be a bit frustrating at points. I think he was supposed to be frustrated. Throughout the film he makes multiple choices in the film that aren’t smart and can really hurt his career and reputation. The movie does address time and the problems that’ll arise if they become public. But Jay Kelly himself never really reflects on those moments. Without spoiling anything there’s something that happens between Jay Kelly and Billy Crudup’s character that sets things in motion and Jay never really regrets it. The film doesn’t go the extra mile or dig in deeper about Kelly’s thoughts and his regrets about it. As you move into the third act and the final moments of the film, there’s a bit of self-reflection but not enough and it made the ending not as satisfying as I think it could’ve been. 

Final Thoughts: Overall, Jay Kelly was a really solid film from Noah Baumbach. I didn’t love it, I do think Marriage Story is still his best movie. You get some great performances by George Clooney and Adam Sandler here. And I found it to be an interesting look into Hollywood and the industry. I have a feeling this movie will be talked about a lot over the next couple of months as awards season is happening.

The Score: 8.7/10 (B+)