Is This Thing On?
by Hope Madden
Back when Bradley Cooper forgot stealing Mike Tyson’s tiger, few would have guessed that he would go on to collect a dozen Oscar nominations for writing, directing, producing, and acting. His first two adventures behind the camera, 2019’s A Star Is Born and 2024’s Maestro, each earned him nominations for picture, screenplay, and performance. They also showcased a director of real power.
So obviously his latest is a comedy.
Cooper co-writes and directs Is This Thing On?, a midlife crisis disguised as a rom-com.
Alex (Will Arnett, who co-writes) and Tess (the ever-incandescent Laura Dern) are ending their 20-year marriage. No hard feelings, no infidelities, both just decided it was time to call it.
On his first night out of the house, in need of a beer and lacking the $15 cash to pay the cover, Alex puts his name on “the list” for a comedy club’s open mic night. He doesn’t bomb, gets some stuff off his chest, and finds that he kind of loves stand-up.
Because men will do anything to avoid therapy.
A supporting cast keeps things chaotic. Cooper plays Alex’s dumbass stoner actor brother whose wife (Andra Day) needs to stay high just to tolerate him. His parents (an inspired Christine Ebersol and Ciarán Hinds) mean well, Cooper directing their cacophony of advice, dismay, rebukes, and requests for juice boxes for giddy, exhausting mayhem.
Dern is characteristically wonderous, crafting a character who’s raw and on-edge and absolutely never the clichéd put-upon supportive partner. Her chemistry with Arnett breathes, bristles, and laughs as easily as a lived-in relationship rooted somewhere or other in love.
To Arnett’s credit, he goes head-to-head with the veteran Oscar winner and charms. Muddled but earnest and effortlessly likeable, Alex is the dad you want kids to know and the floundering ex you root for, if not to get back together, at least to just get it together.
Aside from one or two convenient plot beats, Is This Thing On? benefits immeasurably from authenticity. That emotional honesty drives the laughter and the tension, and elevates the relatively light film (given Cooper’s previous two efforts) above easy comedy or indie dramedy. The film is a unique beast, natural and messy but still totally sold on love.
