New York Film Festival 2025 – Jay Kelly ★★★

Released: 5 December 2025

Director: Noah Baumbach

Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup

An A-list actor heading into his golden years, George Clooney – I mean, Jay Kelly – has spent his entire life in the spotlight. He has an ex-wife and two daughters, a devoted manager, Ron (Adam Sandler) and a parade of doting yet exasperated employees (including Laura Dern as Liz, Jay’s publicist and Ron’s ex), but he’s lonely. He doesn’t know who he is, his image instead an amalgamation of the parts he’s played: hero, villain, father, lover.

Jay Kelly follows its titular character at a critical juncture; after his friend and long-time colleague’s funeral, he runs into Tim (Billy Crudup), an old classmate from his drama school days. At first a seemingly harmless interaction, this reunion – in which Tim tells Jay, who is used to being adored, that he can’t stand him – sets the film in motion. Who is Jay Kelly, really? Is he a fraud? A facade? Tim asks Jay if there’s ‘anybody in there’. Nobody seems to know.

Jay Kelly borrows from writer-director Noah Baumbach’s usual playbook, with a thoughtful albeit meandering script (co-authored by Emily Mortimer, who plays Candy, Jay’s stylist) that explores regular Baumbach themes like existentialism and identity. It’s a little self-indulgent, sure – as are most movies about making movies – but manages to add genuine sentimentality all the same. The film shines brightest when it digs into Sandler’s experience. As Jay’s right-hand man, he struggles to achieve satisfactory work-life balance, noticing Jay’s lack thereof, while he’s desperate to be Jay’s friend despite his place on the payroll. Riley Keough also delivers an impressive performance as Jay’s estranged daughter, Jess – it feels all the more authentic when you consider Keough’s own place in the Presley family.

Where Jay Kelly falls short however is in its arc, its resolution; in short, there isn’t one. While each character does their fair share of self-reflection, hardly any of them actually evolve between the beginning and end, least of all Jay. He realises the mistakes he’s made in his life – not spending enough time with Jess, stealing Tim’s idea during an audition, which lands him his break-out role – but doesn’t do much to avoid repeating them. The film seems content on being more about mulling over our failures and regrets and less about atoning for them.

By the final scene, we’re no more or less sure of the answer to the film’s most pressing question: Who is Jay Kelly? In fact, because the sequence borrows clips from Clooney’s own acting career, it’s all the more suggestive of the film’s self-reference. Is Jay Kelly really George Clooney, or is he a prototype for all aging actors? The film closes with Clooney speaking into the camera and asking for another take, affirming Jay as a mere performer in the story of his life – a circularity which left me satisfied.