What is a movie star? In the most obvious sense, it is someone famous for starring in movies. But it is also a person who becomes a repository for the dreams and aspirations of countless unknown other people, anonymous audiences who can transform the object of all that attention into something of a blank slate.

Which leads to separate questions: Who is a movie star, what kind of person would want such an existence in the first place and what kind of effect does it have on their inner life? The new film "Jay Kelly" grapples with the personal and emotional toll of stardom, but perhaps its greatest feat is that it never feels purely like a product of indulgent Hollywood narcissism.

The latest movie from director Noah Baumbach, co-written this time by Emily Mortimer, "Jay Kelly" never loses sight of the core humanity of its lead character even as it explores the strange rituals of a life lived with a manager, a publicist and a security guard constantly nearby.

It is also to the film's great benefit that the lead character, a longtime movie star named Jay Kelly, is played by longtime movie star George Clooney. The role neatly utilizes Clooney's gifts for physical comedy, verbal dexterity and conveying inner torment. The performance combines Clooney's work with the Coen brothers and his turn in "Michael Clayton," coming out as something that feels both fresh and like a summation of sorts for his own career. George Clooney, movie star, seems to have found the perfect role playing a movie star who is going through it.

Jay has a brief window of time off one summer and hopes to spend it with his younger daughter, Daisy (Grace Edwards), before she goes off to college. She, however, plans to spend that time traveling in Europe with her friends. So Jay goads his beleaguered longtime manager Ron (Adam Sandler) to arrange for Jay to accept a tribute award he had already turned down from a film festival in Tuscany and, with his entourage in tow, he's soon heading off to Europe himself.

As Jay's manager, tasked with placating his client and gently guiding him to the outcomes everyone else wants, Sandler strikes a balance between the warm persona of his straightforward comedies and the emotional depths of his more dramatic work. Laura Dern plays Jay's tart publicist Liz, who has reached the end of her patience with him.

The film soon becomes a kaleidoscope of passing characters, as Jay's travels bring him into contact with all sorts of people and his mind wanders back to remember those from his past. Jim Broadbent is the director who gave Jay his big break (a character seemingly based in part on filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich, with whom Baumbach was close). Alba Rohrwacher, Josh Hamilton, Patrick Wilson, Isla Fisher, Stacy Keach, Greta Gerwig (Baumbach's wife and frequent collaborator) and even the director himself are among those who pop up in small roles.

Billy Crudup appears onscreen for only a few minutes as a less-successful actor friend from Jay's early days. Their catch-up turns into a rueful airing out of long-simmering resentments in a way that shakes Jay to his core, confirming some of his own worst suspicions about himself. (And Crudup's monologue reading a restaurant menu with a stirring sense of emotion is indeed a showstopper.)

Baumbach has always had an impeccable sense of detail, understanding the tiniest minutiae of behavior and character psychology. But his recent work, such as the Oscar-winning "Marriage Story," the Don DeLillo adaptation "White Noise" and the box office sensation "Barbie," which he co-wrote, have given him a newfound sense of scale: a boldness and bigness that truly blooms throughout "Jay Kelly."

Baumbach's remarkable capacity for blocking dialogue scenes, moving actors and the camera through space with energy and precision, only elevates the comedy. There are a number of moments here — a dazzling opening spin around a movie set, an extended sequence in the close confines of a train full of passengers heading from France to Italy — that are masterful examples in how talky, dialogue-heavy scripts can still be presented with visual flair and dynamism.

Yet while he now might feel emboldened at building out scenes in larger ways, Baumbach also knows when to pull it back, zeroing in on the heart of a moment. He stages a phone call between Jay and his estranged daughter Jessica (a powerful Riley Keough) with the actors walking alongside each other, totally altering the scene into something much more resonant as they are at once connected and still coming apart. It is a simple yet transformative choice.

The film builds to Jay, stripped of much of his artifice and trappings, finally receiving his award, which includes a tribute reel. It is indeed made up of clips from George Clooney movies and could genuinely be shown as part of an actual tribute to the real-life star. After all the character has been through, there is something moving about it and seeing Clooney as Jay Kelly take in the salute made up of his own work plays less Mobius-strip meta than it might seem on paper. The film sets its absurdities aside for a final moment of sincere directness.

Baumbach and Clooney have crafted a character who comes to realize his mistakes, many of which simply can't be undone. Jay Kelly, the movie star, may be in the process of figuring himself out, but "Jay Kelly" the movie arrives as a fully formed knockout.

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'JAY KELLY'

MPA rating: R (for language)

Running time: 2:12

How to watch: Now in theaters and streaming on Netflix Dec. 5

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