Jay Kelly

Jay Kelly, 2025, 4 stars

What price Hollywood?

Jay Kelly examines fame’s fee

Exclusive to MeierMovies, November 16, 2025

It’s been 93 years since the movie industry first asked “What price Hollywood?” Since then, the question has resurfaced dozens of times, most famously in the four A Star Is Born films, the first of which, from 1937, was inspired by that original What Price Hollywood? from 1932.

But Jay Kelly, the new film by director Noah Baumbach (who co-wrote it with Emily Mortimer), isn’t that type of Hollywood tale. Though it is tragic at its core, the tragedy is often hidden beneath the comedy, metatheatricality and beautiful scenery of France and Italy. And, of course, Jay (George Clooney) doesn’t drown himself, crash his car or hang himself, as do the protagonists of the Star films. Far from it. Jay goes on – famous but lonely.

Jay Kelly has more in common with Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories (1980) and Deconstructing Harry (1997) – a creepy amount in common, as all three films follow a celebrity on an odyssey to attend a tribute to his work. (Allen’s films are inspired by Federico Fellini’s 8 ½, from 1963, which shares a lot with the master Italian director’s La Dolce Vita, from three years earlier, which, in turn, informed Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty, from 2013, though the latter two movies concern journalists, not performers.)

One could expound endlessly on films that inspired Baumbach’s new dramedy. But the point is Jay Kelly is hopelessly derivative – and an absolute delight, second only to Marriage Story among the director’s films. (This might be his most visually appealing movie.)

After an unpleasant reunion with an old acting buddy (Billy Crudup), Jay suffers a (late) mid-life crisis. Fueling his emotional breakdown is his youngest daughter’s decision to travel Europe instead of spending the last summer of her youth at home with dad. To top that off, his directorial mentor (Jim Broadbent) has just died. So instead of burying himself in another film (as is his habit), he heads to Europe to follow his daughter, accompanied, as always, by his entourage.

Among the retinue are manager Ron (Adam Sandler) and publicist Liz (Laura Dern), who are both living their own personal dramas. Ron is especially vexed, as Jay’s highly successful but nevertheless long-suffering companion questions whether he’s just another cog in the Kelly machine or is a true friend to the famous actor. Meanwhile, Jay is having similar doubts about his assistants’ loyalties and whether the true Jay Kelly exists only on screen.

“My life doesn’t feel real,” Jay reflects. “All my memories are movies.”

Indeed, as the film progresses toward the Italian awards ceremony at which Jay will be honored with a life-achievement prize, we see just what the legend has sacrificed for fame. And we wonder what Clooney himself has given up, as the film turns almost autobiographical, even to the point that the awards presentation, in a nifty but on-the-nose moment, includes clips from Clooney’s career.

However you feel about the overt comparisons and slight narcissism, Clooney is wonderful and makes it difficult to imagine anyone else playing the part. (Perhaps Cary Grant?) In contrast, it’s easy (and fun) to imagine other (better) artists replacing Sandler. The actor has admittedly matured, dramatically, in recent years and has memorable moments here. But I kept substituting, in my mind, Paul Giamatti. Or a slightly younger Dustin Hoffman. Or Philip Seymour Hoffman. (I miss him painfully.)

Dern does fine work as always, but she and Greta Gerwig (Ron’s wife) don’t as much to sink their teeth into. The better roles belong to Crudup, Broadbent and Patrick Wilson (another client of Ron). Grace Edwards and Riley Keough play Jay’s youngest daughter and his eldest, partially estranged one, respectively, and do so with humor and humanity. But it’s an unexpected treat of a performer, whom I won’t reveal here, who steals the second half of the film as Jay’s father.

Jay Kelly is a charismatic but flawed man, and the eponymous film is the same. But it does ooze cinema and is therefore irresistible to cinephiles. And despite its owing its life to many better movies, it provides a powerful lesson about fame, friendship and family.

© 2025 MeierMovies, LLC

For more information on the movie, visit IMDB and Wikipedia. The film is currently in cinemas. It is rated R and runs 2 hours and 12 minutes.