After Alex (Will Arnett) separates from his wife Tess (Laura Dern), he impulsively decides to try stand-up comedy.
Bradley Cooper’s directorial career so far has been fascinating and unpredictable: from a remake of a much-remade musical melodrama (2018’s A Star Is Born) to an awardsy period prestige drama (2023’s Maestro), to, now, Is This Thing On?, a very loose retelling of the life of British comedian John Bishop, in what may be the first Hollywood quasi-biopic of an 8 Out Of 10 Cats panellist.
It’s Cooper’s funniest film behind the camera, and yet also his most unexpectedly humane. Where his first two films were fascinated with creative genius and the glare of celebrity, this is his first film to traffic in the ordinary, presenting an entirely believable and authentic family home life that collapses under the weight of inevitability.
“I think we should call it,” is how Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess’ (Laura Dern) marriage ends, quietly in front of a bathroom mirror. There is no question of foul play. The spark has just fizzled out. The title of the film refers not only to the phrase spoken when testing a microphone, but also the question of whether life is still there, if there is still juice in the tank.
One night, after disassociating at a dinner party, Alex seeks a late-night drink at a bar. Unwilling to pay a $15 cover charge, he signs up to perform at an open-mic comedy night, on a whim. Soft and self-deprecating and unfiltered, his ad-libbed routine takes the form of a confessional, processing a massive life change through the lens of storytelling and humour. Quickly it becomes an addiction, comedy as therapy.
It all feels carved from the bedrock of something real.
Arnett, a long-time friend and former neighbour of Cooper, is a brilliant choice for this kind of tragicomic role. Anyone who watched him as a pathetically piteous failed magician in Arrested Development will know him to be a comedic actor with remarkable emotional range. Still, he impresses far beyond expectations, seizing on a rare sizeable dramatic lead.
Dern, having played a high-powered divorce lawyer just a few years ago, embarks on her own marriage story here. To the credit of the script (by Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell), the film is not simply a Sad Dad story which also happens to include a wife. She gets her own interesting, complex arc. (“You gonna start fucking?” asks a friend. “Immediately,” she replies.) While you might occasionally pine for a film where she doesn’t have to play second fiddle, the shifting dynamic between the pair is gently thrilling.
There is real tension in Alex’s secret comedy life, genuine suspense when their separate lives finally collide, and simmering catharsis as they navigate their disentanglement. With Cooper and Arnett’s real-life friends populating the backdrop, and high-profile break-ups in the actors’ actual lives to draw from, it all feels carved from the bedrock of something real. And that’s no joke.
Essentially “Men will literally do stand-up rather than go to therapy”, in cinematic form. An appealing tragicomedy-drama, told with veracity and heart by Cooper, Arnett and Dern.
