Reel Rundown: No sympathy left for lead of Noah Baumbach’s ‘Jay Kelly,’ starring George Clooney
We all have regrets. They might involve decisions made and not made, paths taken that we should have avoided, relationships that didn’t fizzle out so much as fervently implode.
But that’s what maturing is all about, right? It invites us – maybe even obligates us – to look back at our personal histories and find ways to deal with, and hopefully resolve, the complications inherent in life’s most important moments.
That’s what Jay Kelly is trying to do. As portrayed by George Clooney, Jay is the title character of Noah Baumbach’s feature film, “Jay Kelly,” which is streaming on Netflix. Trouble is, Jay’s not emotionally equipped to resolve anything well – if at all.
He can act, though. In fact, Jay’s an internationally famous movie star, and we meet him just as he’s finished wrapping a film. The emotions he is able to portray onscreen, though, don’t seem to carry over in his everyday life.
And this is true whether he is dealing with his entourage, which includes his agent/friend Ron (Adam Sandler) and his publicist Liz (Laura Dern), or with his two daughters, the older Jessica (Riley Keough) and the younger Daisy (Grace Edwards).
See, Jay is one of those ambitious acting types, a guy who has used every trick he can muster to climb the ranks of Hollywood success. And as such a trickster, he isn’t above being ruthless in his methods – something that becomes clear when he runs into an old acting classmate (Billy Crudup).
Maybe the main aspect of such single-mindedness, though, is the inattention he has paid over the years to his daughters. And it’s his attempts, late and pitiful as they are, that occupy much of what Baumbach has dreamed up with co-screenwriter Emily Mortimer (who has a small role as Jay’s hairstylist).
When Jay faces a two-week break between films, he hopes to catch up with Daisy. But she has already set on heading to Europe with friends. So, impulsively – not to mention improbably – Jay decides to follow her.
This begins what turns into a road trip, with Jay first threatening to scuttle a movie deal that Ron had arranged for him. Then he quibbles over whether to accept a tribute award in Italy. He’s too young, he insists (at the age of 60), to be the focus of a tribute – until he changes his mind.
All the while he pursues Daisy, traveling on a train like a common person (a novelty for him), thrilling the other passengers while glowing in their adoration.
The tone that Baumbach has opted for all this bounces back and forth between seriousness and light comedy. In one sequence he gets into a physical altercation, which leads to an extortion attempt. In another, he chases down a purse-snatcher and is branded a hero.
The first plot point is distinctly unfunny while the second is too farcical. And the blend ends up being a volleyball match of conflicting tones that doesn’t always go smoothly.
One bright spot in all this is Sandler. As he has shown in other films, Sandler is far more than the clowns that is known for (remember “Billy Madison” or “The Waterboy”?). His character of Ron ultimately learns what Jay himself simply can’t. And it has the potential to free him.
Jay, though, is so self-absorbed that he can’t see that what he wants is about his own needs and little else. This is especially true when it comes to his daughter Jessica, who is wounded from his neglect in much the same way that Jay is himself was from his own father (Stacy Keach). In like manner, he can’t take the trouble to help out the director (Jim Broadbent) who gave him his first break – something he ends up regretting far too late.
“Jay Kelly,” then, is a study of a narcissist who, at the culmination of a long and fruitful career, is left facing a sad, lonely end. Whatever Baumbach was hoping to accomplish by examining the life of such a character, he miscalculated.
Because he chose someone for whom it’s difficult – if not impossible – to feel any real sense of empathy.