Dana Stevens in Slate:
Bilge’s description of Matthew Lillard’s facial journey in the actor’s single scene in The Life of Chuck—a movie I have yet to watch—brought to mind another highlight of 2025 face acting: Billy Crudup’s one-scene wonder of a performance in Noah Baumbach’s Jay Kelly. Crudup’s character, Timothy, is the long-ago roommate and acting-school rival of George Clooney’s eponymous movie star. When they catch up over a drink at a dive bar they used to frequent, the energy between them keeps shifting: warm and nostalgic one minute, prickly and combative the next. At one point Jay persuades Timothy to perform his old trick of reading a menu aloud in such a way as to demonstrate his acting range. After taking a moment to find his emotional choice, Timothy delivers a tragicomic ode to truffle Parmesan fries and Brussels sprouts with balsamic glaze, ending on a sobbing salute to iceberg lettuce that leaves both Jay and the audience first cackling, then in awe.
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