The film had its world premiere in the main competition of the 82nd Venice International Film Festival on August 28, 2025, where it was nominated for the Golden Lion.[3] It was then released in select theaters on November 14, 2025, and was followed by a global release on Netflix on December 5.
After Jay Kelly, a well-known actor, finishes filming his most recent film, he wants to spend a few quiet days with his youngest daughter, Daisy, before she leaves for Europe and starts college. He imagines a trip together, but she has no interest and wants to go off with her friends. The space between them has been growing for years, and neither of them knows how to close it.
News arrives from Ron, his manager, that Peter Schneider, the director who once took a chance on Jay, has died. A few months earlier, Schneider — whose career was on the decline — had asked Jay to attach his name to a new film to help get financing, only for Jay to refuse. After Schneider's funeral, Jay runs into his old acting school roommate, Tim, now a child psychologist. At a bar, they start with stories from the old days, only for the mood to turn sharp as Tim brings up the girlfriend Jay dated after him and the role that made Jay famous. He says that Jay stole both, and their argument leads to a physical confrontation, leaving Jay with a black eye.
The next morning he drops out of his upcoming film and books a flight to Europe. Ron warns him that walking away could wreck what's left of his career, but he tells Ron to view the trip as a Dior appearance followed by an award ceremony in Tuscany. Meg, Jay's assistant, tracks Daisy by checking one of her friend's card transactions. By the time Jay and his team reach Paris, she's already on a train out of the city, and they follow. Onboard, Jay relaxes for the first time in months, with people recognizing him as a celebrity but treating him like one of them. He jokes, takes pictures, and invites a few to his tribute event. All the while, word spreads online that Tim is suing him for assault.
He finally finds Daisy in the dining car. The reunion ends quickly once she figures out he has been following her. Ron and Liz, Jay's publicist, sit a few cars away. They talk about the years they've spent managing Jay and how they used to be together, only for their lives to now aimlessly revolve around Jay's problems. Ron still resents the night she left him at the Eiffel Tower, while Liz admits she's missing time with her own daughter.
When a biker on board steals a woman's handbag, Jay runs after him and gets it back. Ron suggests inviting Jay's father to join them. Jay agrees, thinking that he can use the opportunity to fix their relationship. By the time they reach Tuscany, the clip has gone viral, with Jay being labeled a hero. Ron then leaves to meet another client, Ben Alcock, who fires him on the spot. Ron calls home, hoping for comfort, but the talk is stiff and short. Back at the party, Jay barely notices he's gone. Later, Ron tells him Tim dropped the lawsuit after lawyers uncovered an old charge in Tim's record.
Jay's father arrives looking tired. Not long after, he has a dizzy spell and says he wants to go back to Maine. Jay pleads with him to stay, but the taxi drives off. Jay runs after it until it disappears around the corner, leading to him wandering in the nearby woods. He then calls his older daughter, Jessica, and asks her to visit. She refuses and reminds him of the day she brought him to therapy, when the counselor read a letter she had written about missing him, only to walk out before she finished.
Seeing Ron's taxi, Jay runs after it and begs him to come to the tribute. Ron agrees but tells him their work together is over. Jay finally understands that he's spent years confusing paid loyalty with love. At the tribute, as Jay starts facing the cameras, he pauses and asks quietly, "Can we go again?"
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 78% of 147 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 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[21]
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