Will Jay Kelly bring Noah Baumbach and George Clooney back in the Oscar mix and get Adam Sandler there for the first time? Out in limited release November 14th with a Netflix streaming debut on December 5th, the dramedy premiered at Venice. Baumbach shares screenplay duties with actress Emily Mortimer. In addition to the aforementioned leading men (with Clooney playing a giant movie star and Sandler as his manager), costars include Laura Dern, Billy Crudup, Riley Keough, Stacy Keach, and Jim Broadbent.
Some reviews are quite strong. However, Kelly is also drawing some mixed reactions out of Italy. Rotten Tomatoes is at 82% with Metacritic at 64. The latter is slightly alarming when it comes to Best Picture inclusion, but I could still see the Academy going for it.
Clooney is aiming for his fifth acting nod. He won his first nomination in supporting for Syriana. Word-of-mouth from Venice indicates he should be in contention again. Some write-ups are calling Sandler’s role on the thankless side. Yet others praise him enough that a Supporting Actor slot is in reach. The SNL alum likely came closest to an Oscar mention for 2019’s Uncut Gems.
Even if Kelly makes BP, I doubt Baumbach lands in the directorial quintet and even the screenplay could be questionable given the expected competition. Bottom line: Venice didn’t make this a slam dunk in any race, but it could still have an impressive showing. My Oscar Prediction posts will continue…
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