George Clooney film praised as 'midlife crisis masterpiece

There's a line in George Clooney's new film where one character tells him that he is the American dream, the last of the great movie stars.

It's a comment which could easily apply to Clooney in real life, and one of several parallels between the US actor and the ageing movie star he plays in Netflix's Jay Kelly, which has just launched at the Venice Film Festival.

A hugely successful actor playing a hugely successful actor may not sound like much of a stretch, but Clooney's performance goes much deeper than that, portraying an actor who finds himself feeling strangely empty as he reflects on his life choices.

The fictional Kelly may be adored by everyone and greeted with a slice of cheesecake wherever he goes but as he reflects on his career and legacy, he begins to grapple with how much family life he missed out on.

While the film is an unabashed crowd-pleaser, the subtlety of Clooney's performance could put him in the awards conversation in the coming months, in a year where the best actor race is packed with A-listers.

The film sees its leading man suddenly down tools, a week before he's due to start shooting a movie, after a string of setbacks including the death of a close friend and a heated encounter with his former college roommate.

With no warning, Kelly decides to fly to Europe to spend time with his daughters and get his head together - albeit with a stop-off in Italy to collect a lifetime achievement prize. His entourage - including his publicist Laura Dern and stylist Emily Mortimer are forced to follow them, as Kelly shows characteristically little interest in their lives compared with his own.

But his various assistants gradually peel off one by one and head back to the US as they realise Kelly is serious about potentially giving up his career.

Clooney, 64, could easily score a Golden Globe nod and is eyeing his first Oscar nomination for acting since The Descendants in 2012 - but we'll have to wait until much later in the season to see how his performance stacks up against others.

[Source: BBC]