Should we see “Jay Kelly” on Netflix, with Clooney and Sandler within the midst of an existential disaster? | EUROtoday

“T“You’re the last movie star,” says Ron (Adam Sandler) to his greatest buddy and shopper Jay Kelly (George Clooney), a mega-star in disaster who decides to throw every thing away to hitch his eldest daughter in Paris. The sixty-year-old now not has a style for something. Tired of feeling alone regardless of his court docket of assistants, brokers, producers, hairdressers, bodyguards. What’s the purpose of pretending whenever you stay above floor, between non-public jets and limousines?

His whole workers tries to dissuade him from giving up every thing. He would not care and want to reconnect with an easier, extra spontaneous life, in touch with “real people”. So right here he left, surrounded by his whole group, to France then to Italy. Hence a burlesque sequence on a practice, in second class, the place Jay invitations your complete compartment to Tuscany for a pageant that pays homage to him.

When the world of cinema appears to be like at itself in a mirror, the impact is laughable, typically terrifying, however not new since Eight and a half, Birdman Or All That Jazz. With Jay Kelly, we straddle the traditional comedy and the introspective drama of the artist who revisits the ghosts of his previous, when this occupation nonetheless made him dream.

In this fourth movie below the Netflix banner that Noah Baumbach (Meyerowitz Stories, Marriage Story, White Noise) co-written together with his spouse Greta Gerwig, we discover the traditional sample of the existential disaster of the star who falters and calls your complete system into query, carried by a narcissistic George Clooney who has plenty of enjoyable enjoying Clooney: grimaces, winks and smirks to help it.

A comedy that goes in circles

The self-caricature is laughable however a bit boring, regardless of the presence and help of fine supporting roles: Riley Keough as an deserted woman, Alba Rohrwacher in her personal function, Lars Eidinger as a kleptomaniac bicycle owner, Laura Dern as an outdated publicist, Billy Crudup as Jay’s former roommate, and even Greta Gerwig, for a short look. As a supervisor on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Adam Sandler brings a bit shock, emotion and nuance to a narrative that gives the look of déjà vu. He would nearly steal the present from a George Clooney who by no means goes past his register of well-controlled self-deprecation and doesn’t essentially make his character endearing. There are nonetheless, in Noah Baumbach’s oiled manufacturing, some stunning escapes, like this cellphone name which turns right into a dialog between Jay and his daughter in a foggy forest.

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Answer

At the top of the movie, we see excerpts of Jay Kelly/George Clooney’s large hits (Far from sight, The Thin Red Line, The Unknown of Las Vegas). Always this robust narcissism and the mirror impact, with its imposed figures and its limits which Noah Baumbach has nice problem eliminating. Result: a comedy that’s typically humorous however which lacks ambition and finally ends up getting into circles.

“Jay Kelly”, by Noah Baumbach, on Netflix, Friday December 5, 2025.