George Clooney’s Awkward Little Run Is the Best Part of Jay Kelly

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You might not expect much from Jay Kelly – another look at George Clooney’s star power, or a familiar story about the challenges of fatherhood. We’ve seen these themes before in films like the Ocean’s series and movies like One Battle After Another and Sentimental Value. But Jay Kelly has a surprisingly bold quality: it highlights just how wonderfully awkward George Clooney looks when he runs. Seriously, have you noticed? The film shows him running through Italian forests and large homes, and he’s not graceful – it’s actually quite charming! The movie cleverly mixes reality and fiction, using clips from Clooney’s actual films and playfully suggesting that the character Jay Kelly is one of the last classic movie stars. But perhaps the most delightful tribute to Clooney’s career is simply letting both the character and the actor run around looking a bit silly.

Many actors convincingly portray running on screen. Tom Cruise is the most famous example – his distinctive running form, with bent elbows and knees, is a key part of the successful Mission: Impossible films. Teyana Taylor’s impressive run in One Battle After Another was even highlighted in the movie’s promotion, with some claiming she surpassed Cruise. Other memorable cinematic runs include Tom Hanks’ effortless jog in Forrest Gump, Peter Strauss’ determined laps in The Jericho Mile, and Franka Potente’s desperate sprint in Run Lola Run. These actors all appear to have a natural athleticism and stamina, seemingly without any physical limitations.

Let’s be honest, has George Clooney ever struck me as someone who’s naturally athletic? Not really! He’s never really projected that super-fit image, you know? And that’s actually why I love his running scenes so much. They just feel… real. He doesn’t run like a movie star; his limbs go every which way, he makes pained or confused faces, and he’s clearly working at it. Nothing seems coordinated! It’s fantastic, though, because it shows off his comedic timing and willingness to make his characters relatable – even a little clumsy. Whether it’s in The Descendants, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, those funny behind-the-scenes clips from Fantastic Mr. Fox, or now Jay Kelly, Clooney always seems to avoid making his characters physically perfect or even particularly graceful. He deliberately makes them… normal, and it’s brilliant.

I’ve always been captivated by George Clooney, and this film, directed by Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer, really plays to his strengths. They’ve built the character around everything that makes him so charming – that little, knowing smile he does, like he’s holding back a secret, and that iconic raised eyebrow when he’s challenged. You see it in his scenes with Billy Crudup and Adam Sandler, these intense back-and-forths. What really struck me was how they showed him reacting when he realizes the impact his career had on his daughters – it felt so genuine. It’s all recognizably Clooney. And there’s this wonderful vulnerability too – he runs like a regular guy, hair falling out, just trying to get by, despite all the fame and fortune. He even joked about the ‘movie star run’ on Graham Norton, exaggerating how posed it usually is, but he doesn’t need any of that here. He’s perfectly endearing just being himself, and I hope he continues to be our most delightfully awkward movie star for a long time to come.

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2025-12-06 01:56