- Sensibility: The farcical, artificial nature of the film, its characters, and its dialogue regularly interrupt the ability to suspend disbelief. A tennis tournament, scenes on a train, and a scene in a cemetery are far-fetched to the point of nonsense.
- Cinematography: Production design and lighting are eye-catching, vibrant, and unique. However, the look of the film only exaggerates the artificial feeling of the film. Costuming is solid, but a bit with a kerchief is awkward and lands poorly. The film works hard to establish an artistic feel, but therein lies the problem: if you can tell the film is trying to be artsy, it has already failed in doing so. To quote my favorite show Mad Men, "you're painting a masterpiece, be sure to hide the brush-strokes." There is a dancing montage which I think might go down as one of the worst dancing montages of all time.
- Energy: The contrived nature of the dialogue combined with a general lack in feeling like anything happening is important or meaningful makes some of the film hard to watch.
- Narrative: The greatest pitfall of this film is its narrative. The film tries to distinguish between the insulated life of wealth and fame that Jay with a public, "real-world" but both feel extremely artificial. The dialogue amongst the hoy-piloy is theatrical, melodramatic, and often just plain dumb. A set of lines and scenes involving French bikers are so ridiculous that they nearly made me stop the film. The film tries to build up to a grand emotional release from Jay in a scene in the woods and a dancing scene. The challenges he faces feel meaningless because the character is deeply unlikeable and we have little reason to root for success beyond his already incredible success in life. The challenges he faces with his family and daughters is artificial to the point of near farce. A dramatic bit about friendship with his manager also doesn't play well, because Jay Kelly doesn't take anything prior to this point seriously. To end the film, a grand review of filmography in a tribute is supposed to be a tear-jerking moment, but it falls flat because there is no experience of Jay's filmography, The film tries to play into the prowess of Clooney's filmography, but this blurring between Jay Kelly the character and George Clooney the actor just makes the intent more confusing. On this bumpy ride, the film often loses focus in trying to communicate a story about Ron, Jay's manager. This side-show is insubstantial, silly, and near meaningless by the end.
- T-Points: The film received two bonus points: one for a phone call transitioning into an in-person conversation and one for an ending line "Can I go again?"
Large swing and miss. I am repeating myself, but the film doesn't work for one plain and simple reason: everything in it is artifical, contrived, and pointless. This could have worked if the film
had played into a more comedic, farcical feel but it goes for a dramatic emotional ending which falls painfully flat with it's lacking foundation. Extremely disappointing way to finish my 2025 year of films.
Number of Watches: 1
