Is This Thing On? (dir. Bradley Cooper)

By: Adam Freed

There’s not much funny about facing the mundane banalities of middle age. This certainly goes for marriages as they inch through decades of existence in which the sparkle and newness of the honeymoon phase is slowly replaced by the monotonous realities of parenthood, work, and the increased gravity of domestic life.  Is This Thing On? is an intentional step back into reality for director Bradley Cooper, whose last two projects Maestro (2023) and A Star is Born (2018) were both outsized portraits about celebrated, albeit troubled men, managing lives of extravagance. With Is This Thing On? Cooper takes a far more humanistic approach to storytelling by opening with the amicable end of a threadbare marriage and the exploratory character evolution that rises in its wake.  

Cooper’s film stars co-writer Will Arnett as Alex Novak, a man stuck in neutral, which partially leads to his failed union.  For Arnett, Is This Thing On? is a star-making performance, spotlighting the actor’s unique ability to weave heartfelt retrospection with a self deprecating brand of humor that acts as both a defense mechanism and an opportunity for rekindled joy.  The other half of the dissolved Novak marriage is owned by the incomparable Laura Dern, who as Tess, delivers the cool counterpunch to Arnett’s dynamism.  Unlike so many film versions of movie divorce, where violence, infidelity or volcanic confrontation renders a marriage asunder, Bradley Cooper’s film offers a far more realistic, and therefore painful representation of the death of a marriage.  Like genre greats Kramer vs Kramer (1979) and Marriage Story (2019) there are no apex events or scolding fingers to be pointed, only two lonely and unhappy people who happen to share the same bed.

The film's New York setting becomes relevant as Alex falls backward into an open mic night, at the famed Manhattan "Comedy Cellar" where the defeated man uses his moment in the spotlight as an opportunity to vent his frustrations, but ultimately to find clouds of humor floating peacefully in proximity of his raw nerves.  Through the courage that Novak musters, and that Arnett demonstrates with his transcendent performance, Is This Thing On? quickly evolves into a must-see piece of filmmaking for couples experiencing the inevitable relationship malaise of middle age.  Despite its humorously downtrodden appearance, Bradley Cooper’s latest proves his greatest work as a filmmaker.  Is This Thing On? is an honest portrayal of the desperate plight of humanity present within the realities of marriage that no one dares speak of on their wedding day. Without the grandiosity and flash of his prior work, Cooper is able to uncover his most human and successful story to date. Credit to Arnett and Dern, who deftly wear the dual hats of sympathetic victims and perpetrators of their own marital crimes against one another. For a film about such a simple topic, Is This Thing On? proves to be deeply profound.

Target Score 9/10: Bradley Cooper’s honest and prescient story about a marriage experiencing its final death rattle is equal parts funny and fundamental.  Is This Thing On? is comfortable in its discomfort, a credit to the brilliance of Cooper as well as stars Arnett and Dern. 

Is This Thing On is included in Movie Archer's coverage of the 61st Chicago International Film Festival