Despite George Clooney, “Jay Kelly” is not such a great movie What if we told you that Adam Sandler was in a similar, more brilliant comedy in 2009?

Towards the end of Jay Kelly, there is an emotional moment, the only one in the entire film written and directed by Noah Baumbach. George Clooney, the protagonist who gives the story its title, is sitting in a movie theater while he has to receive a lifetime achievement award, and on the big screen, all the most significant performances that have marked his existence in cinema are shown. For this scene, Baumbach didn’t create new footage but used archival material. A true ode to George Clooney, one of the few stars who remind us of the charm and sparkle of old Hollywood, an actor always considered a fascinating and attractive figure, but who is, above all, a tremendous professional.

While the film thus pays tribute to Jay Kelly, Baumbach simultaneously pays tribute to the actor. It would be nice to remember only this as the takeaway from a work that, instead, for the rest of its runtime, makes us doubt the good intentions of the author, who, with this Netflix title, creates a fleeting and senile film, consistent with how the protagonist feels at this point in his life, but far below the potential we know Baumbach is capable of.

Don’t be fooled by the award season nominations. They seem more like a consolation prize than an authentic recognition for the work done by Clooney & Co., who certainly deserved a work that, indirectly as in this case, would have exalted their career and talent. Instead, the actor finds himself having to fall into the uncertain and perplexed writing of a director and screenwriter who seems not to have recovered after the failure of *White Noise*, and who delivers a frayed and decadent film, where Clooney's star power in real life is not an added value that helps the story, but the only redeeming quality of the entire operation.

What is *Jay Kelly* about?

The film is structured as follows: Jay Kelly, whom we immediately see on set demonstrating what acting is, has finished shooting his last film and begins to sense a feeling of vagueness both in his personal life and in his work. He has a daughter with whom he would like to spend more time, but she has planned a trip, leaving him alone in his villa. So, the man decides to accept a career award given to him by an Italian festival to follow his daughter in her wandering around Europe, trying to give concreteness to a life he has spent mostly on a big screen.

Accompanying him is his loyal agent Ron, played by Adam Sandler. And this is where a short-circuit occurs in *Jay Kelly*, because in 2009, Sandler himself played a protagonist in crisis with his profession, looking for a deeper sense for his days. A film that, at first glance, may seem less authorial and brilliant than Noah Baumbach’s, but is in fact much more authentic and insightful.

Two films compared

In Funny People by Judd Apatow, Sandler is the comedian, actor, and beloved stand-up comedian George Simmons. The man is alone, has a giant house, no friends, doesn’t talk to his family, and discovers that he has a rare form of leukemia that can be attempted to be halted with an experimental treatment. The protagonist does not resist, having nothing to lose, and begins the treatment while trying to return to the origins of his career, performing more live shows and dedicating himself to the art of performance. To help him write jokes and be with him during the toughest moments of his therapy is the young Ira, played by Seth Rogen, in search of his own place in the world of stand-up, where he will gain more and more experience thanks to the egocentric, irascible, and unstoppable Simmons.

Despite the two different driving forces—empty nest syndrome on one hand, and illness on the other—both Jay Kelly and Funny People take the actors writing characters that are not so distant from themselves, both in their journey and in what they have experienced and later channeled into the cinematic container from which, among other things, they come. Just like George Simmons, Jay Kelly also finds himself looking at old images of his past life (real VHS or snippets of Sandler’s early shows, while the films are specially made), or, you could say, past lives, each one different every time the two step into a role. For the comedian, the approach of the end transforms into a search to return to the essentials, to the foundation of his work and the reason why he loves it, explaining without being pedantic the success and loneliness it can generate, but also the whims one gets used to and how one can disconnect more and more from others as well as from reality.

Good, but not great

It’s a rough and impudent star system in Funny People, which looks at the world of comedy, which is not the same, although it shares similarities with the film industry. But it’s by far a much deeper, honest, and layered film than the futility that soon surfaces in Jay Kelly. With Sandler, who is excellent in both films. Like George Simmons, he plays the jerk that many famous Hollywood figures are labeled with, but he manages to fill it with a bittersweet sadness on several occasions during the film. In Jay Kelly, it’s more or less the same, but from the opposite side. He has become the one who played Seth Rogen in Funny People, albeit with different parts, age, and functionality.

With his agent Ron, he brings out the understanding and flattery to keep the client/friend in check, he also tries not to lose the important moments of his life, but work absorbs him to the point of draining him. He is ironic but restrained in Jay Kelly and is an actor who doesn’t fade next to George Clooney (and why should he?). But Adam Sandler alone is not enough to save Noah Baumbach’s second consecutive misfire. And if you choose to watch Jay Kelly, be sure to also catch Funny People to see how fame is portrayed and the sense of emptiness it can provoke, and maybe even allow yourself a laugh.