Jay Kelly is a semi-meta film by Noah Baumbach about an aging famous actor played by George Clooney and his manager played by Adam Sandler as they start to introspect on all their life choices that brought them to where they are. It’s a coming of age movie in many ways but for older characters.
Point 1: Study, Not Development
Many narratives, especially when focused on characters, are about character development. We may start with a young, naive person who learns about the world. Or perhaps it’s a ruthless person who has done bad things but is repenting for their misgivings. There are many ways to go about it but the general outline of such an arc is that someone is learning and improving who they are through the lessons of the plot.
Noah Baumbach has taken a bit of a different approach to it – one that can feel a little frustrating at times, but reflects more accurately how life really goes. Jay Kelly is a very accomplished, famous, successful actor. He has nothing to prove to anyone at this point. That’s already a tough place to start an arc. But then, you start peeling back the layers of this man… and he kind of sucks? Okay, so maybe that’s an interesting take, right? So let’s get someone who’s easy to hate to play this character and over time we’ll get to like him.
Pause.
George Clooney is instantly likeable and charming. Even when he’s an asshole, you don’t fully hate him. It feels like the movie is fighting against itself, and not committing to who this person should be. Are they shitty and unlikeable or are they not? I was struggling to decide how I felt during the movie, and I suspect many will feel that way throughout and end up being mixed on the whole thing. However, I really came around to the decision to portray someone complex.
This isn’t a bad person in the sense that they killed anyone or did anything criminally wrong. He’s a cool, likeable guy, but he’s made questionable decisions in how he treats his friends and his family. Things aren’t black and white always. Even the likeable, nice people have flaws that have a negative impact on others, just as unlikeable, bad people may also have people they are nice to. It’s a juxtaposition you’re constantly fighting with. You’re not on his side generally, but are you against him? Maybe. And I think in the end, to me, that was the beauty of this film. Everyone is going to have very different opinions on the character and the movie because of what they feel about each of his decisions and the person he is.
It’s just such an interesting take that the movie percolates in my mind even a week after seeing it and makes me rethink how I feel about the characters constantly. It’s a real artistic tour de force that’s so unrelatable and fer-fetched on its surface but it hides a real warm core of feelings underneath that you have to be open to exploring. I’m shocked at how it feels like you have to interact with such abstractness in a movie that otherwise seems very straightforward.
I think many will unfortunately interact with just the surface level of the film and not engage it on the level that has so much more to say. I implore you if you watch this film to allow yourself to think deeper about the characters than what is presented. You will find that there is so much more depth than you may first perceive.
A final touch on an aspect I think people might struggle with is the character of Clooney and finding a way to empathize with him. He is seen taking private jets and wanting everything to happen the way he wants it because he has the money to do whatever he wants. Some may find it difficult to get past that, but I personally was able to reconcile that by the end and see what the message really was rather than get bogged down by a man in a reality that very few share.
Point 2: Oscar Sandler?
This is probably not THAT surprising, but Adam Sandler has never been nominated for an Oscar. Okay, that’s not surprising at all! Maybe Uncut Gems should have garnered him some attention, but outside of that, I don’t feel like anything would have garnered him much buzz.
Well I’m ready to make a bold proclamation here and say that that streak is ending this year! Adam Sandler is that good in this movie. People of course love to focus on very tough, showy performances for awards, but I think this role without being those things totally encapsulates the meaning of supporting actor. Sandler is almost in the movie as much as Clooney and he sees when Clooney saws and he zigs when Clooney zags and it really is just a beautiful choreography of playing off each other.
That’s not to say though that Sandler is only there to supplement Clooney. He gives a great performance in his own right. It’s measured so it doesn’t necessarily pop, but you really feel the strain sagging more and more as he tries to balance his personal and professional life with everything becoming too much. He’s the person you’re actually rooting for in this movie. He’s the one who has to deal with all the shit and be the normal person when Clooney’s Jay is having a hard time in movie star standards. You really feel every iota of frustration that Sandler expresses and the catharsis when he finally says everything you’ve wanted him to say throughout comes through is the one release this film will give you.
Point 3: What Do Dreams Cost?
One of the big takeaways I had from this film is the exploration of the price of following our dreams. I’m not going to go so far as to say it’s a novel concept because of course it’s been explored elsewhere, but I do think it’s nice to get films like this sometimes that go against the general message of “follow your dreams”. Well, maybe that sounds too negative. Rather, it’s nice to see a film that points out that sometimes following your dreams requires sacrifices that you may not realize until it’s too late.
The movie begins with Jay having a few weeks off between movies and wanting to spend that with his younger daughter, but she already made plans and won’t be around. This perturbs him so much that he starts to find ways of still spending time with her daughter because she’ll move away for college and this might be his last chance to do it. This along with a chance encounter with an old acting classmate that digs up old history pushes Jay to reconsider his priorities and introspect on how he got to where he is now.
Now as covered in Point 1, this doesn’t mean Jay learns and fixes his mistakes. The movie isn’t that interested in tying things in a nice bow. No, instead it makes a point of saying that you did a lot of things to get here, but you don’t get to go back and change them now that you are here. You may have seen them as worthwhile sacrifices for this ultimate goal, but it’s YOUR goal and others won’t care that you achieved it if it meant that they were ignored or mistreated along the way.
That’s not to say that the film vilifies reaching for your goals, but it’s more of a reminder that often those pursuits can result in collateral damage and you have to be self-aware enough to recognize them or have a rude awakening. But at the same time, it still pushes to say that following your dreams is a worthwhile effort. Your goals should be important to you and if something is your passion, then despite the choices you must make, it is not wrong to pursue those passions. The film contrasts those who have been neglected or mistreated by Jay in the pursuit of his craft with those who he has inspired through his work and those who look up to him because of the craft that he honed.
The value of a dream is in the eye of the dreamer, and sometimes the price is worth paying. You just don’t get to have your cake and eat it too.
Point 4: Cinema My Beloved
I’ll be upfront – I am a sucker for movies about movies. I love movies, and it’s just something that I love learning more about. Everyone may not feel that way.
This film is sobering in some ways, but it never deviates from expressing its love for film. Despite the cautionary aspects, the pursuit of making something for others and doing the work to achieve something through cinema is at the forefront of the narrative. In fact, the whole movie revolves around Jay Kelly being honoured for his career accomplishments and him trying to get people to come be there for the event, which is what starts the introspective snowball.
Whatever that snowball does on a personal level, Baumbach ensures that others’ appreciation of Jay Kelly’s work and how it touched them is brought back again and again. Whether it’s people in public, his manager, organizers of an event, and many more, we are reminded again and again that his sacrifices were not for naught. Some suffered for this pursuit but many were touched by it positively.
We see scenes of acting classes and auditions and beautifully orchestrated flashbacks done in theatre style scenes. We never forget the impacts of the art and the ending makes sure you don’t get bogged down by regrets and forget that there is a greater purpose here as well.
All that to say, I really loved this movie. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea and I’m afraid that too many will not engage with the deeper messaging, but I think it’s worth your time to give it a go. I very much respect Noah Baumbach leaving it open to interpretation, especially on the value-level since everyone will prioritize things differently. Without spoiling the ending in any way, I appreciated that the film chose to go in the direction that would make it hard to feel closure, but that in itself became a choice that made sense in the context of the film.
