Movie Review: Jay Kelly (2025)

Genre: Drama  

Director: Noah Baumbach  

Starring: George Clooney, Adam Sandler, Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Patrick Wilson, Stacy Keach, Emily Mortimer, Greta Gerwig, Isla Fisher, Jim Broadbent, Riley Keogh  

Running Time: 132 minutes  

Synopsis: Jay Kelly (George Clooney) has enjoyed a 35-year career as a movie star. He wraps-up filming on his latest production, and his manager and life-long friend Ron (Adam Sandler) expects Jay to quickly transition to his next project. But a chance encounter with Timothy (Billy Crudup), a former friend from acting school days, forces Jay to re-evaluate his life. Having neglected all his family relationships, he takes off to Europe with Ron and publicist Liz (Laura Dern) to get reacquainted with his daughter, but forging genuine human connections does not come naturally to a lifelong actor.

What Works Well: Reflecting aspects of star George Clooney's reality, this is an introspective, thoughtful, yet also peppy and often humorous examination of choices. The script (cowritten by director Noah Baumbach and co-star Emily Mortimer) is neither judgmental nor moralizing, and avoids pat resolutions. Achieving and sustaining movie star fame meant Jay was never a good father, and he gained much more from his friendship with Ron than he ever reciprocated. Decisions and actions are presented as realities and trade-offs rather than rectifiable regrets, and Jay's reflections are rich with in-the-moment dilemmas, awkwardness, and poignancy. The superlative cast includes Stacy Keach as Jay's father, Patrick Wilson as another actor managed by Ron, Jim Broadbent as a mentor, and Riley Keogh as one of Jay's daughters. Many of the supporting characters are provided with well-rounded lives to add depth, texture, and context.

What Does Not Work As Well: The running time is longer than it needs to be.

Key Quote:

Jay Kelly (acting a death scene): That's the crazy thing...everything you thought you were...isn't true.

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Movie Review: Match Point (2005)

Genre: Romantic Crime Drama  

Director: Woody Allen  

Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox, Penelope Wilton  

Running Time: 124 minutes  

Synopsis: In London, tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) befriends his wealthy client Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode), leading to a serious romance with Tom's sister Chloe (Emily Mortimer). Meanwhile, Tom's fiancée is Nola (Scarlett Johansson), a struggling American actress. Although Chris is also immediately attracted to Nola, Chloe is his ticket to riches. Chloe's parents (Brian Cox and Penelope Wilton) help Chris launch a successful business career, but he cannot abandon his Nola infatuation, leading to numerous complications.

What Works Well: Woody Allen takes a break from neurosis to reflect on luck, class, justice, and the conflict between stability and lust as contradictory pursuits. Both Chris and Nola are outsiders to the elite Hewett family orbit, but while he is embraced, she is rejected, setting the stage for a divergence in the illicit lovers' destiny. After a deep investment in characters, Allen introduces a couple of delicious crime and punishment twists, adding zest to the final act. The quality cast bubbles with enthusiasm, Emily Mortimer particularly excelling along a romantic arc beset by unforeseen challenges. Sparkling London locations and an opera soundtrack accompany the unpredictable trajectories.

What Does Not Work As Well: One startling turning point is arguably inconsistent with a character's core capabilities, and while the content is rich, the running time could have used a trim.

Conclusion: Love could be life-changing, or just a zero.



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Movie Review: Lovely & Amazing (2001)

Genre: Dramedy

Director: Nicole Holofcener

Starring: Brenda Blethyn, Catherine Keener, Emily Mortimer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dermot Mulroney, Aunjanue Ellis

Running Time: 91 minutes

Synopsis: Jane Marks (Brenda Blethyn) is raising her adopted black pre-teen daughter Annie (Raven Goodwin), and also has two grown daughters: Michelle (Catherine Keener) is unemployed and dabbling in trinkety crafts, while Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer) is a struggling actress. All of them have self-esteem issues: Jane opts for liposuction; Michelle accepts a menial job where she meets teenager Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal); Elizabeth is judged "not sexy enough" and has a fling with a star actor (Dermot Mulroney); while Annie is eating her way to weight issues and awakening to the challenges of being black.

What Works Well: Writer and director Nicole Holofcener conceives an understated slice-of-women's-life drama focusing on insecurities undermining both mental and physical health, as the inability to move past self-criticism and superficial judgements is passed on from Jane to all her daughters. Refreshingly, the smart script is too genuine to seek redemption arcs, leading to well-rounded, flawed, and honest characters.

What Does Not Work As Well: The emotional toiling of a not-necessarily-likable group of non-achievers carries limited lasting relevance.

Conclusion: Pleasingly untidy but borders on inconsequential.



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Movie Review: Transsiberian (2008)

A crime thriller, Transsiberian is full of good ideas percolating in unique locales, but is hampered by too many coincidences and some conveniently poor character judgments.

In eastern Russia, detective Grinko (Ben Kingsley) investigates a murder scene and determines criminals are muscling-in on the established drug trade routes. In the meantime, American married couple Roy and Jessie (Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer) finish a missionary assignment in Beijing and board the trans-Siberian train for a seven day trip to Moscow. Roy is wholesome and a fan of all things trains; Jessie suffered a wild upbringing, and is now a recovering alcoholic and amateur photographer. 

On the train Roy and Jessie meet another traveling couple, Carlos and Abby (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara). Carlos is charismatic and immediately shows interest in Jessie. Abby is a younger, darker version of Jessie, and appears to be with Carlos just for the thrill. Carlos repeatedly tries to isolate Jessie, and is carrying a mysterious collection of babushka dolls. At a train stop Jessie and Roy get separated; and at the next stop she finds herself alone with Carlos in the wilderness. The trip suddenly takes a very dangerous turn.

Featuring beautiful cinematography as the titular train snakes its way through the rugged snowscapes of remote Russia, Transsiberian draws strength from sparse and less familiar thriller terrain. Director Brad Anderson co-wrote the script with Will Conroy, and invests in a small group of five characters, the two couples and one detective engaging in far-fetched but nevertheless tension-filled games of attraction, repulsion, and manipulation.

The plot is driven by a drug-smuggling pretext, enhanced by the spurious comfort of superficial normalcy. The all-is-not-what-it-seems slow reveals are satisfying, as character backgrounds and motivations come to the fore and play a critical role in defining the unfolding trip dynamics. With deliberate pacing, the opening two thirds are particularly strong, a good amount of time deployed to define the characters and start the process of building tension on board the crowded, sometimes claustrophobic train. Frustration, temptation, and the whiff of criminality seep to the surface. As the danger torques, the premise of an innocent couple quietly getting embroiled in a dangerous situation threatens to draw Hitchcockian comparisons.

But the final act is less cerebral and more routine. Although the often unpredictable narrative is always enjoyable, it also relies heavily on some wild coincidences (Roy showing up with the detective in tow; a perfectly timed train crash), and unexplained logic gaps (exactly why did Roy miss that train). Jessie's pathetic decision making does not help, as she allows herself to get sucked into a horrible situation by repeatedly abandoning all common sense.

The performances are uneven and trace the infused character depth. Emily Mortimer stands out as Jessie deals with a wild roller-coaster of events and emotions; Woody Harrelson never quite grabs hold of Roy; and Ben Kingsley munches the Russian scenery as he decorates Grinko's dialogue with folkloric idioms.

Although undoubtedly bumpy, Transsiberian is spectacularly scenic and suitably twisty.



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Movie Review: The Bookshop (2017)

A low-key drama, The Bookshop tries for subtle quirkiness, but succumbs to triteness despite a willing cast.

The setting is the late 1950s in the small English seaside village of Hardborough. Widow Florence Green (Emily Mortimer) lost her husband during the war. Now she moves back into her matrimonial home, a heritage building known as Old House, and turns it into the town's first bookshop. She immediately runs afoul of the wealthy Violet Gamart (Patricia Clarkson), who had plans to buy Old House and convert it into an arts centre.

Young Christine (Honor Kneafsey) becomes Florence's helper at the bookshop, and learns to love books. The town's wealthy recluse Edmund Brundish (Bill Nighy) develops a friendship with Florence, initially through correspondence and later in person. She introduces him to the books of Ray Bradbury and he helps her navigate the controversy surrounding the scandalous new book Lolita. But Violet is determined to shut Florence down, and has an ally in good-for-nothing James Lance (Milo North), a small-time media personality.

Based on the book by Penelope Fitzgerald and directed by Isabel Coixet, The Bookshop establishes a scenic milieu of a small but rugged and windswept English waterfront community. While the place looks appealing, the people are much less engaging, an insurmountable fault in what is supposed to be a character-driven drama. 

Not even lead protagonist Florence Green is elevated much beyond the broadest definition of a war widow, vague dreamy flashbacks to a happy married life falling well short despite Emily Mortimer's animated efforts. The rest of the Hardborough residents fare worse. Violet is evil because she is evil (or maybe just because she is wealthy), Mr. Brundish is a misunderstood recluse because, well, he never talks to anyone and never leaves his house. Lance is a slime-ball because he has connections with the big city.

The core conflict between the bookshop and an arts centre creates a misguided culture-versus-culture skirmish that could have been resolved over a civilised cup of tea (perhaps a bookstore as part of the arts centre?). The rest of the core message about the value of books is too broad. The slow pacing deadens any momentum, and at 112 minutes the film is a good 20 minutes longer than the content can support. The narration is unnecessary, but does contribute to a decent denouement that avoids the easy way out.

The Bookshop is charming on the outside, but dull where it matters.



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Movie Review: Harry Brown (2009)

A vigilante thriller, Harry Brown introduces an elderly protagonist but otherwise plunders well-worn material with an overreliance on gore.

In London, pensioner and ex-Marine Harry Brown (Michael Caine) lives in a derelict estate terrorized by violent drug-dealing thugs led by Noel (Ben Drew). The gang members hang out in a nearby pedestrian underpass and do business at the pub run by Sid (Liam Cunningham). Brown's sick wife dies in hospital, then his only friend Len (David Bradley) tangles with the goons and is murdered.

Detective Inspector Alice Frampton (Emily Mortimer) starts to investigate Len's killing, but her interrogations are futile. With nothing to live for Harry takes matters into his own hands. He stabs one of the gang members to repulse a mugging then infiltrates a hideout on the pretext of buying a gun and confronts two drug-addicted goons. But his real target is Noel, who will be difficult to track down.

A relatively straightforward reimagining of Death Wish and all its imitators, Harry Brown adds the original but questionable spin of a pensioner pushed to the point of not caring. Harry dusts off his military skills and goes a-killing, but he suffers from emphysema, can barely run and has to rely on some guile to compensate. This could be Bryan Mills' father now displaying his special skills, but the concept is understandably starting to fray.

Michael Caine provides the only source of depth, and conveys a sense of pain, suffering, and disenchantment with a world where criminals rule the streets. But otherwise director Daniel Barber and writer Gary Young resort to stock characters not defined beyond "soulless thug" and "police officer". Similarly no social context or perceptive commentary is provided for the milieu of anarchy in London, where youth are terrorizing a neighbourhood with no consequence.

Stylistically Barber takes his time with a few of the scenes, Brown's visit to the den of two drug-crazed criminals a gradual reveal of a horror house, including a large pot grow-op, a young woman overdosing, and no shortage of guns for sale. The grim aesthetics, pervasive vulgarity and occasional displays of spurting blood wash over the movie to create an overbearing sense of bleak nihilism.

Harry Brown is an old man forced into action, but unfortunately his quest for vengeance is an all too familiar cinematic mission.

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The Movies Of Emily Mortimer

All movies starring Emily Mortimer and reviewed on the Ace Black Movie Blog are linked below:

Elizabeth (1998)

Notting Hill (1999)

Lovely & Amazing (2001)

Match Point (2005)

Transsiberian (2008)

The Pink Panther 2 (2009)

Harry Brown (2009)

Shutter Island (2010)

Hugo (2011)

The Bookshop (2017)

Mary Poppins Returns (2018)

Jay Kelly (2025)

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The Movie Star Index is here.