When Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, White Noise) teams up with George Clooney and Adam Sandler, expectations run high — and Jay Kelly doesn’t disappoint. Premiering at the 2025 Venice Film Festival to a ten-minute standing ovation, the Netflix drama dives deep into fame, identity, and the quiet collapse that follows success. Early buzz positions it as one of Netflix’s most anticipated prestige releases of the year, drawing strong interest from viewers searching for character-driven, awards-season dramas. Its mix of Hollywood introspection, A-list performances, and festival acclaim makes Jay Kelly a standout title fans are already searching for across Netflix.
Shot on lush 35mm film and scored by Nicholas Britell, the movie is intimate yet expansive, melancholic yet funny. Here’s everything you need to know about Jay Kelly — from its plot and cast to reviews, trivia, and Netflix USA release date.
All the key details about Jay Kelly
- Title: Jay Kelly
- Format: Film
- Length: 132 minutes
- Genre: Drama / Satire
- Year of release: 2025
- Director: Noah Baumbach
- Main cast: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Riley Keough
- Produced by: Pascal Pictures, Heyday Films, NB/GG Pictures, Netflix
What happens in Jay Kelly?
At the height of his fame, aging actor Jay Kelly (George Clooney) begins to feel like a ghost in his own life — adored by millions yet invisible to himself. When his long-time manager Ron Sukenick (Adam Sandler) insists they attend a European festival celebrating Jay’s career, the trip turns into something else entirely: a journey through regret, memory, and the price of living behind a persona.
From New York to Tuscany, the film traces their wandering conversations and confrontations — about success, guilt, and what it means to start over when everyone thinks your story is already written.
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Who’s in the cast of Jay Kelly?
George Clooney delivers one of his most introspective performances to date. Opposite him, Adam Sandler plays the loyal yet quietly broken manager whose own dreams have faded into someone else’s schedule. Supporting roles include Laura Dern and Riley Keough, with Billy Crudup, Jim Broadbent, and Patrick Wilson rounding out the cast.
Is Jay Kelly based on a true story?
No, though its emotional realism makes it feel like one. Jay Kelly is an original story written by Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, exploring the culture of celebrity, burnout, and self-reinvention. Filmed across London, Rome, and Tuscany, it uses real locations to mirror Jay’s sense of dislocation.
What are the reviews on Jay Kelly?
Critics have been divided but fascinated. The Guardian called it “a self-portrait of Hollywood insecurity,” while Vanity Fair praised the pairing of Clooney and Sandler as “two sides of fame meeting at a crossroads.” On Rotten Tomatoes, early scores hover around 77%, while IMDb users rate it 7.2/10.
At the Venice premiere, the film earned a ten-minute standing ovation, with audiences praising its emotional honesty and Clooney’s understated performance. Many reviewers note that while Baumbach’s pacing is deliberately slow, the film’s quiet observations and long silences reveal his most mature work to date — a portrait of fame stripped bare.
Where was Jay Kelly filmed?
The film was shot in New York, London, and across Tuscany, Italy, using real villas and festival settings to evoke aging glamour and existential escape. The production deliberately avoided studio sets to preserve authenticity — capturing natural light, real crowds, and the lived-in texture of European summer landscapes that mirror Jay’s emotional drift.
Jay Kelly: Behind the scenes and fun facts
Noah Baumbach developed the script during lockdown, driven by the haunting question: “What happens when the performance never ends?” That introspection shaped the film’s emotional core and its portrait of a man trapped between identity and image. George Clooney later described the role as “the closest I’ve come to playing myself,” acknowledging how deeply the character mirrors the anxieties and contradictions of fame.
Jay Kelly premiered at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, where it received a remarkable ten-minute standing ovation — a response that immediately positioned it as one of Netflix’s prestige titles for 2025.
What’s Jay Kelly like?
If you loved Marriage Story, Birdman, or A Man Called Otto, this is your kind of film — bittersweet, elegant, and hauntingly relatable, blending Baumbach’s realism with the glamour and melancholy of old-school cinema.
When is Jay Kelly coming out on streaming?
Available soon. Jay Kelly premieres December 5, 2025 on Netflix USA, following a limited theatrical release on November 14. Watch on Netflix.
Watch the trailer
In the meantime, here’s the trailer for Jay Kelly — a glimpse into fame’s quiet unraveling.
