Jay Kelly

Action! We are with Jay Kelly in the middle of shooting his latest film. He is a famous actor, confident, and no one can resist his charm. He embodies success both professionally and personally.

A chance encounter with his old college friend Timothy will somewhat shake his confidence and disrupt his daily life. What seemed to be a pleasant reunion over drinks in a bar will turn into a fiasco. Their conversation becomes heated and irreparably breaks their friendship, which, although old and fragile, had seemed solid. Jay Kelly is accused not only of robbing him of a promising early career in theater, but above all of stealing his girlfriend. He is bombarded with criticism, both literally and figuratively. Jay Kelly looks back on that time and begins to understand what he may have done to upset his friend. A flashback shows us the scene from the past between the two students.

Somewhat unsettled after this episode, Jay Kelly informs his manager Ron that, worried about his youngest daughter's departure for Paris, he suddenly has the idea and plan to follow her on a train at Gare de Lyon bound for France and Italy. This leads to a rather unexpected but very amusing scene in which all the passengers on the train recognize the actor and call out to him. Happy and in good spirits, Jay Kelly chats casually with everyone, far from his superficial and arrogant image, and invites everyone in the carriage to accompany him on his journey to Italy.

The following scenes are systematically based on flashbacks that allow us to better understand the actor throughout his life, through his relationships with his family, particularly his daughters, and with his ever-loyal manager Ron, who has been helping him as best he can for years, but without much recognition. Jay Kelly embarks on what could be described as a journey of discovery. Looking back at images from the past, he feels that his life is like a movie in which he plays himself, but that he has never been fully aware of this, that his existence was based on pretense. He realizes how much time he has wasted chasing his career, forgetting the essential thing of living his real life and not that of a character. He intends to remedy this from now on, but feels fragile and finds it difficult to accept himself.

The pace can seem slow at times, without much suspense, and the film is a little long. The music is well chosen, the settings are pleasant, especially the beautiful Italian landscapes that make you want to go for a walk there.
Jay Kelly, brilliantly played by George Clooney, is at the center of this feature film and lights up the screen with his charisma, his nonchalance, always impeccably dressed, reminiscent of actors Gary Grant and Clark Gable. Jay Kelly and George Clooney seem to be one and the same in this film. The character of Ron, the manager, is played with accuracy and emotion by Adam Sandler.

This film will certainly appeal to fans of George Clooney, but it also allows viewers to get to know the actor better, recognize his professionalism, and change their image of him from a certain “What else” commercial.

Jay Kelly
Directed by Noah Baumbach
Written by Noah Baumbach, Emily Mortimer
Produced by Noah Baumbach, Amy Pascal, David Heyman
Starring  George Clooney, Adam Sandler
Cinematography : Linus Sandgren
Edited by Valerio Bonelli, Rachel Durance
Music by Nicholas Britell
Production companies : Pascal Pictures, Heyday Films, NB/GG Pictures
Distributed by Netflix
Release dates : August 28, 2025 (Venice), November 14, 2025 (United States), December 5, 2025 (France)
Running time : 132 minutes

Seen on  november 4 2025 at the Club 13

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