The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025.[3] It was then released in select theaters on November 14, 2025, followed by a global release on Netflix on December 5. The film received positive reviews from critics, with praise for Clooney and Sandler's performances. Both Clooney and Sandler received acting nominations at the 83rd Golden Globe Awards for their performances in the film.
Plot
After completing his latest film, actor Jay Kelly attempts to spend time with his daughter Daisy before she leaves for Europe and begins college. She declines, preferring to travel with friends. Jay learns from his longtime manager, Ron Sukenick, that Peter Schneider—the director who launched Jay’s career—has died. Months earlier, Schneider had asked Jay to attach his name to a new project to secure financing, which Jay refused. After the funeral, Jay meets Tim Galligan, his former acting-school roommate, and the two go for drinks where they reminisce about their lives. The conversation turns hostile when Tim accuses Jay of stealing the part that made him famous; the two have a fistfight in the parking lot, leaving Jay injured.
The next morning, Jay exits his upcoming film and abruptly books a trip to Europe to follow Daisy. Ron warns that abandoning the project will damage his career, but Jay ties the trip to a ceremony in Tuscany for a career-tribute award that he had previously declined. Using a friend’s credit card activity, Jay’s assistant Meg locates Daisy’s group. When Jay and his team arrive in Paris, Daisy is boarding a train, and they follow. Onboard, Jay interacts with passengers who recognize him, while Ron and Jay's publicist Liz receive word that Tim is suing him for assault. Ron and Liz discuss their long history managing Jay’s crises and the personal costs of remaining in his orbit; Liz later quits and departs the train.
While on the train, Jay flashes back to moments from his past, including his strained relationship with his older daughter Jessica, whose mother Jay cheated on with his co-star on one of his earliest films. Jay eventually finds Daisy in the dining car and invites her to his tribute, but she chooses to remain with her friends.
When a cyclist on the train steals a passenger’s handbag, Jay chases after him and retrieves it, generating viral attention that casts him as a hero. Ron proposes inviting Jay’s estranged father to join them in Tuscany, and Jay agrees in hopes of repairing their relationship. Upon arrival, the viral clip boosts Jay’s visibility. While Jay dines with his father and friends, Ron departs to meet another client, Ben Alcock, who was set to receive the tribute after Jay's initial refusal, only to now have to share it. Ben reluctantly tells Ron he is firing him, in part due to Ron's preoccupation with Jay.
At a party the night before the ceremony, Ron reports that Tim dropped the lawsuit after lawyers uncovered an old drug charge in Tim’s past. He and Jay argue how much Jay takes Ron for granted. Jay's father experiences dizziness at the party and chooses to return to Maine; Jay urges him to stay but fails to stop the departing taxi. Jay runs into Ben and his family and gives them most of his guest tickets to the tribute, then wanders into the nearby woods. He calls Jessica asking her to visit, but she refuses; Jay apologizes for prioritizing his career over his children, while Jessica says she has made peace with not having him in her life.
The next morning, Jay returns to the villa and sees Ron departing by taxi. He runs after him, and Ron says he can no longer work for him. Jay asks Ron to attend the tribute as a friend and says he shares his professional success with him. At the tribute, the two tearfully watch a reel of Jay's performances,[a] ending with footage of Jessica and Daisy as children. As the audience stands in applause, an emotional Jay looks to the camera and asks, "Can I go again? I'd like another one."
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 76% of 224 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "George Clooney riffs on his star persona with disarming vulnerability while Adam Sandler impressively expands his dramatic range in Jay Kelly, a Hollywood satire that's gentler than one might expect from director Noah Baumbach."[20]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 67 out of 100, based on 51 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[21]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
