Review: George Clooney explores the inner life of a movie star in 'Jay Kelly'
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What is a movie star? In the most obvious sense, it is someone famous for starring in movies.But it is also a person who becomes a repository for the dreams and aspirations of countless unknown other people, anonymous audiences who can transform the object of all that attention into something of a blank slate.Which leads to separate questions: Who is a movie star, what kind of person would want such an existence in the first place and what kind of effect does it have on their inner life? The new film “Jay Kelly” grapples with the personal and emotional toll of stardom, but perhaps its greatest feat is that it never feels purely like a product of indulgent Hollywood narcissism.The latest movie from director Noah Baumbach, co-written this time by Emily Mortimer, “Jay Kelly” never loses sight of the core humanity of its lead character even as it explores the strange rituals of a life lived with a manager, a publicist and a security guard constantly nearby.
Movies In Noah Baumbach’s Hollywood satire starring George Clooney, Crudup plays an actor who never made it — and delivers one of the most talked-about turns of the year.It is also to the film’s great benefit that the lead character, a longtime movie star named Jay Kelly, is played by longtime movie star George Clooney.The role neatly utilizes Clooney’s gifts for physical comedy, verbal dexterity and conveying inner torment.
The performance combines Clooney’s work with the Coen brothers and his turn in “Michael Clayton,” coming out as something that feels both fresh and like a summation of sorts for his own career.George Clooney, movie star, seems to have found the perfect role playing a movie star who is going through it.Jay has a brief window of time off one summer and hopes to spend it with his younger daughter, Daisy (Grace Edwards), before she goes off to college.
She, however, plans to spend that tim...