Is This Thing On most certainly is on, and its delightful themes and sense of humour are enough to bring down any house.
One of the reasons comedy is such a beloved medium is that it can hint at, or even dissect, painful truths with a sense of humour, making complex topics all the more accessible. It’s a weirdly freeing medium. Bradley Cooper’s latest directorial effort, Is This Thing On, recognises this to its own benefit. This amusing and heartwarming picture sneaks up on you gradually, much like great comedic stand-ups, packing a deceptively strong punch when one reflects on it afterwards.
Loosely inspired by an autobiographical anecdote from British comedian John Bishop, Alex Novak (Will Arnett) is a man whose marriage to ex-volleyball athlete Tess (Laura Dern) has come to an uncomfortable, but reasonably amicable end. In an awkward transition between marriage and divorce, Alex finds himself feeling lonely and drifting through life without purpose. That is, until he randomly stumbles into an Open Mic Night in Manhattan’s Comedy Cellar, regularly viewed as the Harvard of the American comedy scene.
Alex gets up on stage and starts telling the audience about his complicated feelings about the impending divorce, albeit with a touch of drollness. Against the odds, the material resonates with the audience, and Alex finds himself getting a decent chunk of laughs – enough for him to consider pursuing more stand-up acts.
Laura Dern and Will Arnett in IS THIS THING ON? Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures. © 2025 Searchlight Pictures All Rights Reserved.
Many scholars, philosophers and storytellers recognise that there’s often a thin line between comedy and tragedy. Cooper’s tender direction and writing, in a script co-written with Arnett and Mark Chappell, not only recognise this but also showcase how looking at the most challenging parts of our lives with a stinging, even morbid, sense of humour can actually make for a good coping mechanism. Seeing things and people in a new light, even through the veil of comedy, can help one learn more about themselves and others. That comedy also happens to be something Alex is good at, something even he finds himself surprised by, which only adds to the appeal. It’s willing to be silly and mischievous, yet it finds an accessible maturity to its delivery, even at its most silly or chaotic.
The use of imagery is particularly potent in the film. Matthew Libatique’s cinematography knows when to give the characters space to navigate their internal struggles and when to get up close and personal. Alex’s open mic nights use close-ups of his face to highlight the spotlight on him and the nerves beneath. Over-the-shoulder shots to the wider audience heighten these nerves but gradually become more welcoming as Alex gets into the groove, adding a palpable ebb and flow to the dialogue.
There’s even a recurring framed picture Alex has of Tess during her glory days as a volleyball Olympian. It’s a freeze frame in the middle of Tess landing an incredible shot, but her face is turned away. It’s a remarkable picture, but it only shows part of Tess, both literally and subtextually. For Tess, just like Alex, is a lot more than her former or current occupation. People are composed of a million pictures and moments in their lives, and, just as Alex does with comedy, sometimes it takes a new perspective to see the wider picture beyond the frame.
Amplifying this earnestness is the fact that Tess is given equal agency. While she and Alex serve as each other’s protagonists and antagonists to an extent, the film is careful to highlight that marriage and separation are a two-person party. Just as we relate to Alex’s choices and search for a coping mechanism, we also relate to Tess’s desire to move on, or at last make sense of her nebulous dynamic with Alex.
Arnett performs a delicate balancing act between vulnerability and stubborn attempts to conceal his own insecurity. Yet Dern steals the show as she manages to be effortlessly charming in her chemistry with the rest of the cast – particularly Arnett – as well as ferociously serious when the weight of her character’s conflict starts to buckle. The way Dern commands the sharp dialogue of this picture, which is equal parts witty and venomous, is in a league of its own. In a scene around the midpoint, in which hers and Alex’s new worlds unexpectedly collide, Dern manages to go from one emotion to another seamlessly – capturing disbelief, anger, horror and then eventually amusement within moments. There’s no one else like her in the business.
It’s ultimately a picture about human dynamics through unexpected means. Cooper’s serene, calculated direction imbues this picture of separation and reconnection with a refreshing gentleness. It trades in heavy subjects but always strives to find the joy, and even the humour, in vicarious life events. Emboldened by strong performances and intimate filmmaking, this film champions people at any stage of life, as well as the healing power of laughter and the arts. Like Cooper’s previous directorial films, Maestro and the A Star Is Born remake, it takes sentiments and stories we often take for granted and breathes a new sense of humanism into them.
The film’s use of imagery, while powerful, is perhaps a touch on the nose at times. Cooper also performs in the film as Alex’s best friend – bizarrely called Balls – and while his subplot does make for an interesting foil to Alex and Tess’s, Cooper’s performance does feel a touch garnished in its over-the-top nature. But these do little to distract from the earnest sentiments and heartfelt filmmaking at the centre of this warm, tender wee gem. Committed performances and stylish craft act in service to a compelling spin on the romance genre, all while allowing us the room to giggle, snigger and even belly laugh when called for. Is This Thing On most certainly is on, and its delightful themes and sense of humour are enough to bring down any house.
Is This Thing On? is now showing in cinemas nationwide.
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