George Clooney and Adam Sandler star in ‘Jay Kelly.’
Director Noah Baumback (“The Squid & the Whale,” “Marriage Story”) brings us a squeaky clean, crisp tale which follows celebrated movie star Jay Kelly, played by George Clooney, as he faces the decisions of his past and present. What a stretch it was seeing George Clooney play an overly tanned movie star in a fitted Armani suit, where everyone in public falls all over him. We have seen this man play this same role 15 times before, and it has become nauseating. Like usual, you know you are watching George Clooney, never trying to mask his appearance like other better character actors do.
Adam Sandler (“Uncut Gems”) plays Jay Kelly’s loyal and level-headed manager and best confidant, Ron Sukenick. If you only enjoy seeing Sandler in his slapstick comedies, you best skip this one, because although charming at times, he is ultimately forgettable in this bout. Just to name-drop, they also throw in actress Laura Dern (“The Son”) into the mix for a few blah scenes just to add some Oscar clout. I guess at this point, you can sense I was unimpressed overall.
It had moments where I enjoyed it more than I expected. I will be honest — I just find these kinds of stories, like in “Jay Kelly,” in these kinds of economic times, are bad optics and ill-timed. Watching a movie about a movie star living in his sprawling Italian mansion with everyone bowing at his feet and eating out of his palms, while most of us are scraping by to afford this month’s heating bill and pay off our exorbitant health care bills so we don’t get our assets seized just doesn’t sit well with me.
I don’t think I am alone here getting fed up watching the Richie Rich and their tacky ballrooms. Give us a real script, Hollywood, something that makes the writers and audience stretch their imaginations a bit in order to be able to escape their realities for the two-hour-plus running time. Isn’t that the whole point anyway of Hollywood filmmaking?
“Jay Kelly” isn’t a total dog, as I said. If you are a big Clooney fan who enjoys predictability, then this Showbiz drama will be the cufflink on your sleeve.
Happy New Year, and remember, we are in this fight together!
REVIEW
“Jay Kelly”
Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler
Christopher’s “Meow” Score: 5½/10 paws.
Christopher Vernon is a proud NEPA resident and award-winning writer and author. He began writing film reviews on his page ‘The Movie Meow’ in 2018. His favorite two films of all time are ‘Thelma & Louise’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby.’ And of course, you guessed it, Chris adores cats.
