Jay Kelly

...is wistful, romantic and unashamedly old-fashioned, and would be a fitting swansong for Clooney as an actor, were he to retire.

...has Kelly and others talk about what it really means to “play yourself,” rebuking a common dismissal of movie-star artistry.

...a masterpiece of looping, self-referential writing that coalesces into the deeply painful realisation that life isn’t quite like the movies after all, and the only take we’ve got is the first.

...Baumbach’s ode to cinema is springy enough to pick itself back up just in time to usher in the actor’s great epiphany.

...plays like a loving tribute to its lead star.

Clooney is often accused of playing himself in movies, so he’s not a surprising choice to play an elite actor but he knocks the role out of the park anyway.