Jay Kelly

I'm a sucker for introspective, slow-paced movies, and this one hits that sweet spot perfectly. It follows George Clooney's character as he reflects on his entire life - from his biggest achievements to his hardest regrets - ultimately coming face to face with some harsh truths and realizations. We also get glimpses of that same emotional journey through a few other characters, mainly Adam Sandler, who delivers his most serious role yet.

The film explores how the road to career success can come at the expense of your personal life, and how each person copes with that differently. It's also a movie about filmmaking itself, with Clooney playing an actor - another theme I absolutely love.

The cast is fantastic across the board, but with the story centered on Clooney and Sandler, they naturally stand out. Both give incredible performances, especially Sandler, who completely steps outside his usual lane and nails it. The cinematography, scenery, and production design are top-tier, but the script is the true standout. It blends drama and comedy so naturally, and honestly, I think we need more films like this - emotional, feel-good, and thought-provoking.

I happen to catch this at the NYFF. This is the type of film we need now. It focuses on our humanity, our relationships, our joys and regrets. The movie captures accurately the working relationships of a movie star and his supporting entourage. And demonstrates the sacrifices that are sometimes necessary to achieve such success. The performances were wonderful. Adam Sandler has really come along way. He just gets better and better as a dramatic actor. His performance was heartbreaking and hopefully he'll receive many deserving accolades for it. Clooney, well, he never disappoints but this is the most vulnerable role I've ever seen him tackle and he did it superbly. I was very moved and hope everyone sees this film.

I've loved Noah Baumbach from the jump, however here we are in 2025 with a retrospective character study that grabs, dips, and meanders from a semi-relatable introspection to how-did-we-get-here slog. I liked it? Yes, mostly. I was never bored, and I did laugh out loud at quite a few parts, it's just - - - editing, I guess? Some things definitely could have taken up residence on the cutting room floor. Sandler does a fine job, as does the entirety of the cast. I cue Sandler though because Sandler. He isn't exactly known for his subtlety. The music is a nice stand out. Mortimer being co-writer, her character could've gotten more play. And Laura Dern? Love her. But if the film lost her character entirely, that might give the pace a little more? As it stands, it's the cacophonous surroundings of Jay Kelly's world that elevate the film as much as it bogs itself down. Less is more.

George Clooney. What can I say? A brilliant actor who really understands his craft. The story is poignant and moving, the humor is well placed, and the scenery is beautiful. As an older man I feel many of the story's elements personally. I appreciated the creativity of the film's methods.

Still, I regret that the film was tedious and slow at times. It feels like it was edited by the director, and not a storyteller.

Mostly great.

I've really found myself drawn towards character driven, comedy-dramas over the last few years and because that Jay Kelly seemed like it was tailor made for me. I was totally prepared for this movie to make me laugh and to make me cry and even if it didn't reach the heights I wanted it to it's still very interesting as a character study with a lead character I found to be wonderfully contradictory.

It's a film about regret fundamentally and I think the script is at its best when it's examining that. I went back and forth a lot about how I felt about Jay Kelly as a character and I like the fact that the film condone his actions or redeem him by the end and I felt it left the audience the space to come to its own conclusions. I think the script does a very good job at portraying the characters inner struggle and I never felt like the success he's achieved stopped me from sympathising with him when I felt I needed to. George Clooney is basically perfectly cast to the point where I truly do not believe anyone else could've play that part better and with it being such a stacked cast it just became more and more exciting to see actors of this calibre play off each other. On a visual level it's mostly very strong and there's a lot more interesting work being done behind the camera than I expected but done to varying degrees of success.

There's a lot of flashback scenes but the way they're depicted did not always work for me. It's clear what Baumbach was going for with these scenes but the way they're framed often felt quite awkward for me and stopped me from getting fully wrapped up in them. Maybe worse than that however is how unnecessary so many of them felt. There's a phenomenal scene with Billy Crudup early on that lingers over the rest of the film in which he recounts a story that we then see played out on screen a few scenes later. I failed to see what the point of it was when I already felt that having it conveyed verbally had given the right effect and I just wish the film as a whole took a less-is-more approach. The last shot in particular did not land the way I think Baumbach intended it to but that feeds into what I think is the biggest issue with the movie in that it just lacks subtlety. Theres times where the script just feels like it's beating you over the head with its themes and it often came across as if it didn't trust the audience to understand the point of the movie.

Jay Kelly doesn't always reach the heights it's aiming for but I never wasn't interested in what it was trying to explore. It ticks so many boxes for what I want in a film like this but I just it got out of its own way more and took a more subdued approach on a writing and a technical level. I did feel real emotions whilst watching this movie and that's something I always feel I have to give credit for I just wish I got that little bit more out of it.