“Jay Kelly” Explores the Sacrifices of the Rich and Famous

Although there is a growing sense of discomfort between the wealthy and the poor, the phrase “money can’t buy you happiness” remains true (even if money can buy you peace of mind). Because this is a more pronounced problem than ever before, a movie like “Jay Kelly” is likely to rub a few Netflix subscribers the wrong way. With all of the burdens the middle class face, why should they care about a white, famous, rich actor and his journey of reflection? As I’ve said before, movies are vessels through which we can walk in someone else’s shoes, and “Jay Kelly” provides a meaningful (if not overly dramatic) example of this.

George Clooney stars as Jay Kelly, who has just wrapped up filming his latest movie and is set to star in another one in two weeks. He plans to spend that time with his daughter, but finds out that her trip to Europe starts in a few days, and he will be alone for those two weeks. Minor though this may be, it gets him thinking about where the time has gone. He has been married multiple times and is estranged from his other daughter, and he can’t pinpoint exactly where it went wrong. When a mentor dies suddenly and an altercation with an old friend causes trouble, it makes Jay rethink his life.

He tells his manager/friend Ron (Adam Sandler) that his life doesn’t feel real. He’s been making movies for so long that all his memories feel like movies. For many of us, movies provide timeless memories, but what happens if you are in the movies themselves? Does fantasy mix with reality? How do you reflect on those important life moments? What does it say about your relationships when your friends are also the people you pay to keep your career going? If this were a David Lynch film, he would film it in a dreamlike quality, expressing the existential crisis on display.

Here, though, the movie is directed by Noah Baumbach, who has made a career out of directing films where flawed human beings go through tragedy while missing the happiness that lies right in front of them. The screenplay was written by Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, though I suspect Clooney gave some of his own uncredited suggestions as well. “Jay Kelly” feels like a reflection on Clooney’s life just as much as it does any successful person who puts their career over the everyday pleasures. Clooney was famously a bachelor who said he would never marry or have kids, but in recent years, he has not only started a family, but he has also slowed down his work output significantly.

His making a movie like this seems to be him acknowledging that he was successful, he has everything he could want, but he feels like he missed something and wants to focus on that now. Looking at his friend Ron, I also can’t help but wonder if there is a bit of Adam Sandler in this role. While Sandler was never a manager, his success was built on making movies that, I sense, even he knows were beneath him. A film like “Jay Kelly” gives him one of his best roles and shows that while we may still have him, we missed out on many years of potentially great performances from him when he was younger.

Yes, I’m also going to acknowledge that “Jay Kelly” can be a bit on the nose sometimes. Some of the developments scream “Oscar-bait,” and there are moments of the musical score that would be right at home on a Hallmark movie. This isn’t a movie that is trying to be subtle. The reason I connected so much with it, I suppose, is because my life has been largely shaped by the movies I watch, and most of my pivotal memories revolve around them. There are opportunities I passed up because I wanted to write about this industry. While I am happy with my life in general, I do look back and wonder what could have been, as we all do. And I suspect we all sympathise with Jay Kelly when he looks at his life, and what he’s built, and says with melancholy, “can I go around again?”

This review was originally published on The Fandom Post.