Jay Kelly ending explained: What was still missing in Jay's life despite his superstardom?

Noah Baumbach’s film Jay Kelly stars George Clooney as Jay, a famous Hollywood personality. The younger Jay, played by Charlie Rowe, was very focused on building his career and becoming a star, but to achieve success, he ignored the most important part of his life: his family. By the end of the movie, Jay realizes that choosing work and fame over his loved ones has left him lonely. When he reaches the peak of his career, he realises that success means nothing if you don’t have the people you love by your side. The film shows that stardom can strip you of everything if you don’t value your relationships.

What does the final line of Jay at the end of Jay Kelly mean? 

The film concludes with Jay attending the Tuscany Film Festival, where he is honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In his imagination, he sees his loved ones sitting with him. However, in reality, no one from his family attends the award ceremony, except his manager, Ron. Throughout the film, we see through flashbacks how Jay made choices that pushed his family away.

The movie starts with Jay performing his final scene. He loves his work so much that he always asks for retakes to make every shot perfect. His famous line is, “Can we go again? I’d like another one.” But this is something he could never do in his personal life. He couldn’t fix his relationships, and because of this, his two daughters, Jessica and Daisy, stayed away from him, and so did his father.

After the death of his filmmaker friend Peter, Jay finally realizes that he needs to leave his career behind and be with his family, but it is too late.

At Peter’s funeral, Jay meets an old friend, Timothy. In the past, when they were learning filmmaking together, Jay accidentally took away Timothy’s chance. Jay Kelly had accompanied Tim to support him for an audition, and when he was rejected, Jay tried for the same role and got selected. This left Peter angry and hurt for years. Later, when they meet to have drinks, Tim gets into a fight with Jay and even files an assault case against him. But none of this matters to Jay anymore, since all he wants is time with his daughters.

Jay’s daughters no longer have time for him. Jessica hasn’t met Jay in a long time and is busy with her own life. Daisy is about to go to college and is leaving for a trip to Paris with her friends. When Jay returns, he hears about Daisy’s trip and secretly tracks her location. He gets on the same train as her. On the train, he sits with local people and enjoys a simple life, something his private jets and vanity vans had kept him away from.

When Daisy sees him, she gets angry. Jay comes in disguise and claims he must go to the award show, but his real reason is to spend time with her. Soon after, he has to let Daisy go again, and he goes back to the hotel for the award show. Jay invites everyone from the train to attend the show, but the only people he wants the most are his daughters and his father.

Because of Jay’s behaviour, even his team, Ron and Liz, are tired and confused. He initially refused to accept the award and then suddenly said yes again, just because he wanted to meet his daughter. Then he refused to work on a new movie as well. Because of all this, Ron and Liz were also staying away from their own families. By the end, Ron is exhausted and on the verge of giving up. But still, he supports Jay on the day of the award show as his friend, the friend who has always handled every problem for him, not just as his manager, but as his true supporter. 

The message of Jay Kelly is that an actor’s life is not always what fans see. Fame and stardom make them look successful, but sometimes they lose the people they love (making them a failure in their real life). In movies, actors can take multiple retakes to fix a scene, but in real life, they only get a few chances to make things right.

During the award show, a montage of Jay’s old films is played. But in his memories, he sees a video of his daughter performing the “Kelly & Kelly” show. He remembers how he should have stayed and watched them with pride instead of rushing away for work. That memory hurts him.

In the final moment, Jay looks at the camera and says the same line he always said on set: “Can we go again? I’d like another one.” But this time, it isn’t about a movie scene. It is his wish to go back and fix his past, especially his life with his daughters.