Jay Kelly

VIFF REVIEW: BY DARREN ZAKUS

October 10, 2025

4.5 OUT OF 5 STARS

Jay Kelly is a soul-searching cinematic experience with two dazzling performances from George Clooney and Adam Sandler that steer Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer’s screenplay to emotionally honest depths that creates a deeply moving, joyful and touching character study of a man who seemingly has it all.

Early on in the film, the line “all my memories are movies” is uttered, and it perfectly encapsulates the spirit of Baumbach’s latest film. Not only are movies a fundamental part of the audience’s personal memories, with movies becoming part of our own histories marking memorable life events such as first dates, the movies that your parents introduced while you were young and have shaped your love of film, or even the first film you have shown your own children, but for Baumbach and his co-writer and star Emily Mortimer, the line means something different. Being artists in the industry, the films they have been part of have marked milestones in their lives and careers, creating a far more personal connection to the film’s main character, Jay Kelly. This connection allows them to intimately understand Jay and find an honesty and beauty in their writing, leading to an enchanting and sentimental character piece of a man who seemingly has everything, searching for the one thing he desires most in life. Led by a terrific duo of performances from George Clooney and Adam Sandler, Baumbach and Mortimer’s screenplay transforms into a beautiful examination of life decisions, career and family, resulting in a poignant film from Baumbach that hits all the right emotional notes.

Drawing parallels to the classic Frank Capra holiday film It’s A Wonderful Life; Jay Kelly follows the titular character as he is about to receive a tribute achievement award for his career as a famous Hollywood actor. Over the course of his travels to the awards ceremony in Italy as he follows his teenage daughter who is travelling through Europe with her friends before going off to university, Jay reflects on his career and life that have led him to this moment. With the memories coming back unexpectedly on his journey and playing out like movies of his past, Jay tries to find the human connection that his lonely life as a movie star has created for him, especially with his two daughters after being absent for the majority of their lives, despite the army of paid staffers trailing behind him. Blending memories and reality to heighten the moments, Baumbach and Mortimer find an emotional honesty at the centre of the story that draws the audience into Jay’s story that creates many beautiful moments throughout the film as Jay reflects on the life choices that have led him to this moment in time, the ramifications they have had on his relationships with his daughters, and whether chasing his career was really worth the cost. It’s a playful, emotionally stirring and often hilarious journey that is amplified by Nicholas Britell’s musical score, which when featuring full orchestral pieces and quintet features, captures the spirited nature of Jay and his lifestyle, while the piano compositions that are used during the dream sequences evoke the emotional honesty of the intimacy of Baumbach and Mortimer’s screenplay. 

When the end of Jay’s soul searching journey comes and he finds the answer of who he truly wants to be comes during the film’s final scene, set to a moving montage reel featuring clips from Clooney’s career, a wave of emotions overcomes both Jay and the audience. The montage of movie clips and watching Jay react to it is a smart technique that allows Jay’s emotional reaction to affect the viewers as he watches his life flash in front of his eyes, but as he has his realization while watching it and the montage transforms into something more meaningful to him personally, seeing individuals from his past and moments with his daughters while they were young girls, Baumbach hits all the right emotional notes and is certain to have audiences crying in their seats. And that’s all before that perfect final line uttered by Clooney that creates a satisfying ending that both Jay and the audience deserve. It may be overly sentimental of a story for some movie goers, but for those who are able to open their hearts to this story, Jay Kelly is a rewarding and mature cinematic experience that only Baumbach can make.

Baumbach has assembled a massive cast for Jay Kelly, and it’s impossible to even begin to talk about all of them, but there is no shortage of great performances from this cast that includes Riley Keogh, Patrick Wilson, Eve Hewson, Great Gerwig, Emily Mortimer, Alba Rohrwacher, Louis Partridge and Stacy Keach. Laura Dern is a tour de force as Liz, Jay’s publicist, bringing her motherly instincts to the role as she guides Jay through the complex public relations issue he finds himself in. With an earnestness that Dern naturally possess and a no nonsense attitude, Dern is excellent in her smaller supporting role, sharing a beautiful moment with Sandler on the platform of the train station as they explore their characters’ history and Dern makes it clear that Jay is not capable of seeing or caring for them the way do for him. While only appearing in one sequence, Billy Crudup leaves his mark on the film as Timothy, Jay’s old acting classmate. With a complexity to his character’s intention for running into Jay decades later on in life, Crudup finds a balance between the hurt within Timothy and the remnants of his friendship with Jay, creating an aching presence throughout all of Jay’s soul searching journey that has him taking a further look at the consequences of his choices. 

In one of the film’s most beautiful scenes, Jim Broadbent delivers a tender performance as Jay’s friend Peter Schneider, the director who gave Jay his big break and became a father figure to Jay over the years, bringing a warmth and compassion to the one relationship that meant the world to Jay. It’s a powerful performance that in that single scene, Broadbent propels Jay’s story into action as the loss of Peter signals to Jay that he has no one in his life that he has a true, meaningful connection with. Portraying the younger version of Jay in the dream memory sequences, Charlie Rowe effortlessly captures the charisma of Clooney’s older Jay, but with a fight and desire to be a great actor that allows the audience to easily see Rowe’s trajectory to turn into Clooney’s iteration of the character years later. 

But, the film soars because of the performances of Clooney and Sandler. Clooney is his ever charming self as Jay, easily becoming that charismatic, larger than life movie star (which is no stretch for him to do), but it is in the dream sequences where Clooney brings a quiet reflection to his performance as he pierces Jay’s exterior personality and finds the truth of the lonely man beneath the movie star. It’s a mesmerizing performance from Clooney that lights up the screen, whether it be during a more comical moment as Jay tries to navigate his celebrity status while travelling to Italy or a raw scene shared with his daughters as they are brutally honest with Jay about his presence as a father in their lives, allowing Clooney to deliver his best work in over a decade. Then there is Sandler, giving what is arguably the best performance of his career as Jay’s manager, Ron Sukenick. From the second you meet as Ron, it is evident that he loves being there for Jay and considers him an incredibly close friend, even if Jay doesn’t see it that way. This only makes Ron’s arc all the more heart wrenching as you see his faithful devotion wreak havoc on his life, as he explores what his life could be like without Jay as a client. Sandler plays it all with a grace and emotional intelligence, capturing both the spiralling chaos of Ron’s European trip as he has to manage Jay and the reflective look at his own life decisions, leading to some incredibly vulnerable moments that showcases Sandler’s talents as a dramatic actor that audiences deserve to see more of. As a pairing, Clooney and Sandler find a magic on screen together that brings to life the intricate relationship, energizing the entire film with a whimsical and vibrant presence that allows the audience to be entranced by Baumbach and Mortimer’s beautiful story.

Much like when George Bailey in It’s A Wonderful Life and Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins were saved and audiences were crying with a cathartic release for these characters’ self-realization, Noah Baumbach delivers the same emotional experience for Jay Kelly in his latest film. Creating what can only be described as an adult coming of age tale that is the Hollywood version of It’s A Wonderful Life, Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer’s exploration of the psyche of a Hollywood star looking back on his life is a deeply personal story that not only can any viewer can connect with, but one that takes audiences on an emotional journey that will leave a mark on their hearts. Featuring an excellent cast with two outstanding performances from George Clooney and Adam Sandler at the film’s helm, marking some of the best work of both of their careers, Noah Baumbach conjures up a magical and reflective character piece in Jay Kelly exploring life, family and career through laughter, tears and a celebration of filmmaking that makes for one of the most sentimental films of the year.