I suppose the joke is that trying to get an audience to sympathize with a character who seemingly has everything is not the unique experience of Jay Kelly, but something we are often asked to do. somehow, it feels more pronounced in Noah Baumbach’s latest offering, because it isn’t just watching fancy people in big mansions in a bygone era, but a contemporary look at stardom that needs you to understand there is some level of sacrifice, and not all that glitters is gold.

Baumbach has tapped George Clooney for a role that feels right up his alley. He’s an A-lister who is in that stage of his life where he gets lifetime achievement awards, but is also seeing the youngest of his two daughters graduate high school. This is what drives Kelly to embark on his existential crisis, as he has only a limited break in his shooting, and his daughter plans to traipse about Europe before heading off to college. She doesn’t want to spend time off with her dad. It doesn’t really matter what she wants, because Kelly is feeling the weight of his choices, and as we see in flashbacks, he’s already messed things up with his older daughter Jess (Riley Keogh), from an earlier marriage.In one excellent moment, Kelly mentions to Jess that he’s receiving this lifetime achievement award and wants her to come along. “35 years. My life’s work.” Heartbroken and realizing he still doesn’t get it, she simply responds with “Dad, I’m 34.”

An interaction with a former friend (Billy Crudup) from his acting school days also didn’t help. Billy Crudup’s performance is minimal, pivotal, and something to behold. He only really has a little chunk of the film, but he offers so much. Equally, the loss of a former filmmaking partner (Jim Broadbent), also helps Kelly’s perception of failure.

however, on the other side, he’s never actually alone, because he has a team full of people, led by his manager Ron (Adam Sandler), his publicist (Laura Dern), and his assistant (Isla Fisher). They too will embark on Kelly’s journey, slowly peeling off one by one, until it is just Ron. because not only is this a film about a star in crisis, an absentee father, and other themes, but it also ropes in a buddy road trip angle between Kelly and Ron.

the problem with this is that Baumbach can’t actually balance all these themes. We see Ron give up the normalcy of his life to follow Kelly on a whim, and while he does get 15%, he also has been around long enough that he feels like he and Kelly are actual friends, something the film tests, but has a hard time reinforcing.

This is where the film is weakest, not because of Sandler, who is exceptional, but because of the lack of rapport between Kelly and Ron. After this amount of time, Ron should feel like he anticipates more, finishes the sentence, and generally is more on the ball with Jay’s likes and dislikes. The film doesn’t have enough time to balance it, because it is trying to do so much else. Instead, it always feels like he is just a manager, and never a friend, and as Dern’s character suggests “we don’t mean to them what they mean to us.”

Still, even though Baumbach’s ideas are a bit messy in a script he co-wrote with Emily Mortimer, he does land quite a bit. I enjoyed the film, even with its flaws, because it could be accused of taking the wrong road in terms of Kelly’s final placement in terms of fatherhood, a theme it doesn’t resolve, but this is the better answer. the solution to Kelly’s problems as a lacking parental figure can’t just be easily waved away. he needs to do the work, and the movie is more about him understanding that. So many others would have gone for the warm and fuzzy, but perhaps the best ending for Kelly is the one he gets.

George Clooney is excellent here. It isn’t so much that this is the wildest or most dramatic role, but he fits so perfectly into the role. Sometimes I see criticism that this casting is too on the nose, but there’s something to be said for seeing a character so close to Clooney in crisis, versus casting an unknown, or an up and coming talent without 35 years in the business. Clooney gets it, and as a result adds some soul.

Laura Dern is fabulous, but really only has a few brief moments to shine. She suffers from the similar problem crudup does in that the film needs only a dash of them. Sandler does have far more screentime. it is a solid role for him, not surpassing his performance in Uncut Gems. i could see him getting the nomination here because it is so hard to dislike his character. he’s just a good guy, with his heart in the right place, unaware that he gets trampled a lot.However, his best scenes aren’t with Clooney. His best moments are with Dern, Patrick Wilson (who appears briefly as his other client), and a little scene where he tries to read his son a bedtime story over FaceTime. the film may be about Kelly’s crisis, but Ron would be the one you’d want to hug.n He’s really been through it, and i think every actor is going to see this character and reflect on how they’ve treated their own entourage.

The score is lovely, but not memorable, meaning I liked it when it was on, but if it was playing right now, I wouldn’t recognize it.The audio description, produced by International Digital center and written by Liz gutman, is appropriately designed. The film isn’t really a comedy, but more of a drama, so Gutman’s writing finds the little moments of beauty in the European structures, or the simplicity of Kelly coloring his hair to hide the grey just a little. The narration was smooth as well, from a nice new voice I’m assuming was chosen thanks to the smidge of Italian spoken in the film.

I don’t know where Jay Kelly ends up on my lists this year, because it doesn’t instantly scream that it is the best at any one thing, but the totality of the slightly imperfect project was a breeze to watch. I never checked my phone, and was engaged the whole time. I just wish Baumbach had tweaked the script a bit. I love movies about Hollywood, so this is already up my alley.

Jay Kelly seeks perhaps too many ultimate truths, but the sum of its parts is still a satisfying romp with endearing characters.

Fresh: Final grade: 8.6/10