‘Jay Kelly’ review: A magnetic George Clooney shakes off the stardust

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. In Jay Kelly, director Noah Baumbach joins forces with George Clooney to deliver a sharply observed, melancholic study of celebrity, memory and regret. Clooney plays Kelly, a Hollywood icon forced to shake off the stardust and confront the impact of his choices.

As he drifts between denial and self-awareness, he confronts the fallout of decades lived at the centre of his own universe. What Baumbach attempts, and often pulls off (but not throughout) with considerable elegance, is a meta-fictional story of an ambitious man’s hubris. This is a film about Jay watching his own mythology crumble, only to realise and awaken to a truer, humbler version of himself.

The framing conceit is both theatrical and intimate. Jay finds memories being triggered as truth bombs explode in his face—as he loses a mentor, bumps into a long-lost friend, and reconnects with an estranged daughter who refuses to shift her boundaries. He slips into the wings of his own past, a spectator watching younger versions of himself moving through moments of triumph, selfishness, carelessness, entitlement and dishonesty.

Baumbach stages some of these scenes like live rehearsals or auditions and film shoots, creating a sense that Jay is wandering through a memory-theatre rather than a traditional flashback. This device allows Clooney to act mostly with his eyes—quiet, stunned, and sometimes amused as he recognises the impact of his choices. He witnesses the moments when fame began to distort not only his relationships, but his entire sense of self.