Jay Kelly , filmmaker Noah Baumbach’s latest Woody Allen-esque drama, co-written with actress-writer Emily Mortimer, lovingly targets the celebrity experience. The two attempt to add depth to the people behind your favourite films. What goes on off-set that really impacts the life of a celebrity actor? What happens when their legacy threatens to swallow them whole, or when they let the tail wag the dog? How do they handle being the platonic ideal of a particular type of man, receiving and achieving everything they wanted, and still end up uncertain and not quite fulfilled? These questions all make for a fascinating screenplay — no surprise, considering Baumbach’s ear for dialogue and penchant for an emotional knife twists that feel both surprising and logical — and a reasonably decent final film.
George Clooney portrays Jay Kelly, an actor whose career mirrors the actor portraying him. A handsome television star, who then shifted to mega Hollywood A-lister, and eventually to an Elder Statesman with Appeal. So it’s no surprise that Clooney carries the character well. And you can save all of your criticisms about certain actors always playing themselves — they address those in the film. Do they address them to a satisfactory degree? Not entirely. But at least Jay Kelly is self-aware.
The plot feels messy, but so is the chaotic life of a celebrity on a promotional tour. What comes along with that chaotic life is a built-in entourage of managers and agents that, over time, become what could be called close friends. The best parts of Jay Kelly concerns those people. Adam Sandler plays manager Ron Sukenick and it’s clear that the Sandman and Baumbach are keyed into each other. The Meyerowitz Stories made that clear. This film reaffirms it. Unfortunately, Laura Dern, as agent Liz, is given a less sizeable and more thankless role. Where Jay and Ron get to discuss their families, the world at large, and celebrity at length, Liz is removed and given depth only by way of her limited relationship to both men. Occasionally other familiar and equally loveable actors show up and improve the periphery (Riley Keough, Greta Gerwig, Billy Crudup).
Taking great swings at the human condition and celebrity on film is a clichéd minefield, and not even the talented Noah Baumbach is capable of dodging them all entirely. Or even mostly. The biggest offender here is composer Nicholas Britell ( Succession , Moonlight ), who’s produced some of the best scores of the last ten years. Perhaps it is the fault of where Jay Kelly uses its score as opposed to the score itself, but time and time again music cues send an already melodramatic scene into soap opera territory. There are musical phrases that all but say: Feel this. Now feel this.
This film will go down easy with Hollywood-based (or obsessed) viewers because it helps, despite all its hemming and hawing, glorify if not salacious celebrity then at least noble filmmaking. It will also satisfy movie lovers with its wall-to-wall recognizable cast of A-listers. Despite those many pluses, Jay Kelly will likely go down as a middling addition to George Clooney’s filmography. If this is in fact Baumbach’s Stardust Memories (and it is, complete with its own reference to Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 ) then, when it’s all said and done, it needed a little more stardust to standout.
Jay Kelly hit theatres on Friday, November 14 and began streaming on Netflix this past Friday, December 5.
