As an actor, Bradley Cooper can be exciting and explosive because he refuses to take himself all that seriously. In critically heralded films like Silver Linings Playbook, American Hustle, even Guardians of the Galaxy, where he voiced Rocket Raccoon, he gamely plays the fool, egotistical, wrathful, and/or uncouth. Yet as a filmmaker, Cooper is tediously serious, even when making the divorce-centered comedy Is This Thing On?
Curiously, Cooper doesn’t star in his latest, as he did in past directorial efforts A Star is Born (2018), and Maestro. Instead, he cast himself as the silliest character in his latest directorial effort, while Will Arnett, who co-wrote the screenplay with Cooper and Mark Chappell (See How They Run), headlines alongside Laura Dern.
Together, they play a middle-aged couple who are navigating the end of their 20-year marriage. But don’t expect the fireworks of the troubled couples from his last two directorial efforts. Instead, these two have a mutual split that’s more aching than angry. To cope, the soon-to-be ex-husband turns his pain into a new hobby: stand-up comedy. Yet the results aren’t all that funny or profound.
Is This Thing On? feels old-school in a bad way.
Laura Dern and Will Arnett with director Bradley Cooper on the set of “Is This Thing On?”
Credit: Jason McDonald / Searchlight Pictures
Relying on cliches and a premise done recently and very well by The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Is This Thing On? feels like a lost film from the late 2010’s, when joking about dad bods was remotely fresh. Arnett stars as Alex Novak, who by day wears a suit for the sort of job the movie doesn’t care about, and by night is stumbling into comedy clubs in New York city, looking for an open mic. Does he have dreams of doing stand-up professionally? Nope. It’s more that tired meme: Men will do anything except go to therapy.
So, Alex goes up on stage and starts talking about his life, his wife Tess (Dern), and his penis, in search of — what — attention? Absolution? I’m not sure even he knows. Scoring a few laughs thrills Alex, but he seems even more grateful for the community of comics (most of them women and people of color) who immediately embrace him and offer pointers. Because a realm where straight white guys really need a helping hand is stand-up comedy, right?
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Where Midge Maisel’s journey was about becoming great at stand-up, Alex’s story is never about going pro, or even getting particularly good. Neither is it about becoming a member of the comic community so ready to embrace him. Instead, Is This Thing On? is a tedious, navel-gazing tale of a mediocre man doing the very least and feeling sort of bad about it. But hey, a female character who exists only to mock and fuck Alex says he’s a “good” person. So, there’s that.
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Bradley Cooper loves a broken man and the strong woman who takes his bullshit.
Laura Dern and Will Arnett play husband and wife in “Is This Thing On?”
Credit: Jason McDonald / Searchlight Pictures
Admittedly, I’ve never been much for Cooper’s movies. A Star Is Born was a remake after a remake, but at least its dusty, toxic romance gave us a sensational Lady Gaga performance. As for Maestro, Cooper threw himself into mastering the intricacies of conducting an orchestra, but co-wrote and directed a Leonard Bernstein movie that was fueled by biphobic stereotypes, like that bisexual people are irrepressibly lusty and can’t (or won’t) commit to a monogamous relationship. Both films in tone and aesthetic pine for Hollywood’s Golden Age of big stars and big drama, but in doing so, drag dated ideas along with them. Set today, Is This Thing On? is less egregious on these points, but not the tiresome gender roles of messy man and the incredible woman who loves him. In this case, this is taken to a comical extreme. Alex is an amateur comic; his wife is a former Olympian volleyball player.
Alex is often gruff and rumpled, looking very much the part of a man on the brink of divorce. The close-ups employed in Matthew Libatique’s cinematography are practically suffocating, and repeatedly go directly into the protagonist’s eyeline. So, whether he’s tripping into a punchline or speaking sincerely to Tess, Alex is looking right at the camera, directly addressing the audience, perhaps asking us to love or at least see him.
However, it’s unclear how self-aware Is This Thing On? is about Alex’s emotional state. Sure, as the movie goes on, he begins to own his mistakes in the past, but less so in the present. He and Tess have two young sons together. And over the course of the movie, Alex — who has moved out of the family home — acts more like a guest than a parent. When a birthday party is thrown at their house, he arrives late with no gift or anything in hand. When it’s time to clean up, Libatique’s frame shows other party-goers gathering absurd amounts of streamers that have been scattered around the lawn, while Alex chats with his flighty friend Balls, a deluded actor played by Bradley Cooper.
Is This Thing On? isn’t funny, but its supporting players have their moments.
Will Arnett and Bradley Cooper play friends in “Is This Thing On?”
Credit: Jason McDonald / Searchlight Pictures
To reiterate: Alex is not all that funny as a stand-up, in part because he tells tired jokes about dad bods and in part because he goes all Joker on occasion, turning his self-loathing on his audience. However, there’s something brave and refreshing in suggesting someone can be into the performing arts as a hobby without being good at it, much less being successful. Cooper’s character drives this point home, as he’s the kind of New York actor who has been in the business for decades but has never broken through.
Entering with a pratfall that sprawls him out on the floor and spills a full quart of milk for a splashy punchline, Balls is ever-convinced he’s on the brink of his moment. With a wide smile and chaotic charisma, he waxes poetic about the joys of being an understudy or cowhand #4. And though this makes him a clown within Alex’s story, his final scene suggests he’s found the key to happiness, and isn’t bothered by other people’s ideas of success. He’s a goofball, but aspirational.
Elsewhere, Christine Ebersole is hilarious as Alex’s pestering mother. Though only in the film briefly, she makes the most of every moment, nailing that backhanded mom humor that cuts and spurs cackles. Her intense energy plays well off of Arnett’s low-key grumbling, as does Dern’s hard-forged warmth. The film’s tension becomes the will-they-won’t-they of Tess and Alex’s relationship, asking if this is really the end or not. Dern, flowing from charmed to impatient to furious and back again, carries a lot of the movie’s emotional weight. However, the film never commits to her enough to make this a two-hander. So, in the supporting role of the wife/could-be ex-wife, she’s left to have emotional breakthroughs not on the Comedy Cellar’s stage, but on the phone with friends or family. Perhaps this is meant to show how one-sided their marriage had become, Tess left alone at home, calling out for help. But I suspect I’m giving Cooper too much credit there.
In the end, I lost patience with this movie about a man who is remarkable in no particular way. Is This Thing On? is like its hero, unremarkable. The humor in it occasionally hits, but more often doesn’t. Though the narrative around divorce here is refreshingly lacking in the sort of cliched Kramer vs. Kramer or Marriage Story vitriol, its open-hearted exploration of a marriage on the rocks never seems to recognize the strangling gender norms at its core. The performances are solid from the supporting cast, including former pro footballer Peyton Manning and a smattering of actual stand-ups — like Chloe Radcliffe, Jordan Jensen, and Reggie Conquest. Then there’s Arnett, who post-BoJack Horseman seems cozy in the role of a lost middle-aged loser seeking validation through performance. But ultimately, I wasn’t rooting for this marriage to work out or fall apart. I was just waiting for someone to flash the light and bring this exasperating set to an end.
Is This Thing On? was reviewed out of its world premiere at the New York Film Festival. The movie will open in theaters on Dec. 19.
