Movie Review: ‘Jay Kelly’

Baumbach’s new movie also stars the likes of Adam Sandler and Laura Dern, and the movie constantly gives them the better, more interesting plotline.

George Clooney as Jay Kelly in 'Jay Kelly'. Cr. Peter Mountain/Netflix © 2025.

In Theaters on limited release on November 14 (before landing on Netflix December 5), ‘Jay Kelly’ is the new movie from Noah Baumbach, who tends to specialize in putting his characters into emotional crisis. Here, he’s turned his attention to Hollywood.

Jay Kelly

"Everybody knows Jay Kelly, but Jay Kelly doesn't know himself."

RDrama Comedy

Review
Score

Release Date: Nov 14, 2025

Run Time: 2 hr 12 min

Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern

The new movie stars George Clooney (‘The Ides of March’), Adam Sandler (‘Happy Gilmore 2’), Laura Dern (‘Marriage Story’), Billy Crudup (‘Almost Famous’) and Greta Gerwig (‘Barbie’).

Initial Thoughts

(L to R) Adam Sandler as Ron Sukenick and George Clooney as Jay Kelly in 'Jay Kelly'. Cr. Peter Mountain/Netflix © 2025.

Noam Baumbach’s movies usually find characters at some sort of dramatic crossroads –– the marital fireworks of ‘Marriage Story’ or the family dynamics of ‘The Meyerowitz Stories.’

‘Jay Kelly’ is no different, even if the crises seem less urgent when focused on a wealthy movie star whose biggest issue is that his youngest daughter is about to fly the nest and he’s also reconsidering his life and career in the light of his mentor’s death.

Script and Direction

(L to R) George Clooney as Jay Kelly and director Noah Baumbach on the set of 'Jay Kelly'. Cr. Peter Mountain/Netflix © 2025.

Baumbach in some ways feels like he’s on autopilot here, the story (he co-wrote the script with Emily Mortimer, who has a small role in the movie) fueled by some very familiar beats and feelings. This is a plotline we’ve seen done before and, honestly, better.

Oddly, the real story, and the one that is much more compelling is between Sandler’s Ron and Dern’s Liz, Jay’s longtime manager and publicist, who have their own history and find themselves seeing their relationship complicate despite Ron’s seemingly happy marriage to Greta Gerwig’s Lois.

Baumbach keeps the direction mostly light on its feet, though some repetitive touches (such as Kelly’s rider containing cheesecake he doesn’t even like) weigh things down.

And the use of clunky flashbacks to explore our hero’s conflicted feelings doesn’t help.

Cast and Performances

(L to R) Greta Gerwig as Lois Sukenick and Adam Sandler as Ron Sukenick in 'Jay Kelly'. Cr. Netflix © 2025.

Clooney brings his considerable star wattage to the title role, and is always watchable. It’s just an issue that the role never breaks free of a basic movie structure.

Sandler and Dern are superb in their supporting roles that have more nuance and flavor to them, while Greta Gerwig is also great as Sandler’s character’s wife.

Final Thoughts

‘Jay Kelly’ is far from Baumbach’s best, even with the cast giving their all. It’s emotionally formulaic, but wanders along amiably enough that you won’t be insulted you gave it a shot.

‘Jay Kelly’ receives 65 out of 100.

'Jay Kelly' opens in theaters on November 14th and premieres on Netflix December 5th.

What’s the story of ‘Jay Kelly’?

The film follows famous movie actor, Jay Kelly (George Clooney), as he embarks on a journey of self-discovery confronting both his past and present, accompanied by his devoted manager Ron (Adam Sandler).