Jay Kelly<\/i><\/a> isn\u2019t just about movie star narcissism\u2014it\u2019s an act of it as well.<\/p>\n Noah Baumbach\u2019s saccharine, toothless, and cheesily meta film is headlined by George Clooney<\/a> as a thinly veiled proxy for himself who suffers a crisis of conscience when a chance encounter makes him fear that he\u2019s missed out on the most important things in life.<\/p>\n Straining to thread a needle so that it bittersweetly laments its A-lister\u2019s shortcomings while nonetheless forgiving him for them, it\u2019s a grating fiction-mirrors-reality tale\u2014screening at the New York Film Festival ahead of its debut in theaters (Nov. 14) and on Netflix (Dec. 5)\u2014which mistakenly assumes that the woe-is-me routines of the rich and famous are the stuff of great drama.<\/p>\n Jay Kelly (Clooney) is a Clooney-esque leading man who\u2019s beloved worldwide for his big-screen triumphs. Still, in-between his latest productions, he\u2019s disappointed to hear that 18-year-old daughter Daisy (Grace Edwards) won\u2019t be hanging out with him; instead, she\u2019s spending her summer before college traveling around Europe with her friends. Jay remarks that he doesn\u2019t want her to go because he\u2019ll be lonely, to which Daisy replies that he\u2019s never alone\u2014a fact borne out by a servant promptly handing him a drink\u2014and that contradiction is central to the man\u2019s existence, in which there\u2019s never a shortage of admirers and handlers but precious little in the way of legitimate love and consideration.<\/p>\n George Clooney as Jay Kelly. \/ Peter Mountain\/Netflix<\/p>\n The person closest to Jay is Ron (Adam Sandler<\/a>), his manager, who waits on him hand and foot, even when it interferes with his obligations to wife Lois (Greta Gerwig<\/a>) and their two kids\u2014which, of course, is always. In this Hollywood stratosphere, everything revolves around Jay, although chinks in his impenetrable upper-crust armor appear when he\u2019s notified that Peter (Jim Broadbent), the director who gave him his big break, has passed away.<\/p>\n At the funeral, Jay gladhands with aplomb and, on the sidewalk, runs into old pal Timothy (Billy Crudup<\/a>). They go for drinks, during which their happy reminiscences\u2014they were both in the same acting class\u2014turn ugly thanks to Timothy\u2019s bitterness over the fact that Jay \u201cstole\u201d his shot at the spotlight. A fight ensues, and afterwards, Jay decides to ditch his upcoming feature and chase Daisy around France and Italy, using a tribute award in Tuscany (which he\u2019d turned down, but now wants) as an excuse for the getaway.<\/p>\n (L-R) George Clooney as Jay Kelly and Adam Sandler as Ron Sukenick. \/ Peter Mountain\/Netflix<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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