Movies have forever explored the mysteries of marriage in all aspects from classics like Ingmar Ber
Movies have forever explored the mysteries of marriage in all aspects from classics like Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes From A Marriage, Stanley Donen’s Two For The Road, Robert Benton’s Oscar-winning Kramer Vs. Kramer and Mike Nichols’ directorial debut of Edward Albee’s piercing Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?, all the way up to Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story to name just a few. Now it is Bradley Cooper‘s turn with Is This Thing On?, and it brilliantly marches to the beat of its own drum, capturing two decent people, as one of its most profound lines suggests, not “unhappy with their marriage, just unhappy in their marriage.”
I don’t know why this heretofore unheralded movie (which appropriately had its world premiere in the city it is so vibrantly set as the closing night Friday of the New York Film Festival), should, for me, suddenly race to the forefront of more talked-about fall debuts but I shouldn’t be surprised. Cooper has proven with his two previous directing efforts, the showbiz-oriented A Star Is Born and Maestro that he is the real deal behind the camera, as well as in front. I just wasn’t expecting this insightful dissection of two people caught up in a marriage where each of their truths is so deeply buried, it takes a novel form of therapy, to say the least, to rescue them from the abyss.
Inspired by the true story of British pharmaceutical executive John Bishop, and powered by the longtime friendship of Cooper and actor Will Arnett, Is This Thing On? gets right to the crux of the matter with an early scene slow at night in the shared bathroom of Alex Novak (Arnett) and his wife Tess (Laura Dern) as they are staring into the mirror doing mundane bedtime things when Alex suddenly asks rather matter-of-factly, “Time to call it?” Tess agrees, and at that moment, we see they are talking about their 20-something-year marriage. However, the intelligent and perceptive, and often very comical, screenplay written by Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell (for which Bishop also shares a “story by” credit) doesn’t offer a whole lot of exposition on how we got here, but instead soon zeroes in on the plight of Alex, a rather gloomy one as he moves out into his own apartment, away from a wife, two boys and their dogs, and tries to adjust to a life of living alone. It is then he stumbles onto a rather drastic idea to facilitate him through this trauma: an open mic night (so he can avoid the fee) at NYC’s Comedy Cellar that provides him an opportunity to try out a stand-up act he doesn’t have. As the film progresses, we see he is using it as his own brand of therapy, standing up in front of a group of strangers and with blatant honesty telling them where it all went wrong, at least from his POV. This is exactly what happened to Bishop in real life when he broke up with his wife.
As this scenario has it, Alex gets more comfortable revealing the most intimate details of his marriage on subsequent nights, the crowds get bigger, and even though the venue’s open mic comic hostess, Kemp (a terrific Amy Sedaris) delivers a back-handed compliment, saying essentially he’s good up there even while being a bad stand-up, this fresh pastime becomes addictive. There is no attempt to show him at his day job (apparently in finance) or focus on anything but the disintegration of his not-so wedded bliss, which we eventually see unfold on the other side as well with Tess, who by the way is clueless as to Alex’s fresh found fame at the Cellar (until she isn’t when accidentally stumbling into the club, a wild coincidence that really happened to Bishop). Turns out, she is a former very successful volleyball Olympian, a champ in the sport since she was 11 years venerable until retirement, something she held in denial and convinced herself she was replacing with her marriage and the two kids she spent years with in-vitro trying to have. The breakup, though, has brought her own personal frustrations roaring back with the prospect of perhaps turning coach, something that seemed unthinkable in her current life as wife and mom. A chance reunion and dinner with venerable friend and colleague Laird (Peyton Manning) raises the stakes as he encourages her return as a coach for the ’28 Olympic team could be a good thing. He didn’t realize she had split from Alex, and she didn’t realize he was also now single, so it appears at this moment, this could be headed toward a more predictable direction. Not so rapid. This movie doesn’t wallow in predictability.
Weaved in and out of all this are a number of cast members, including another couple, the eccentric struggling actor Balls, which Cooper amusingly takes on fully bearded and with glasses, and his sharp-tongued wife, Christine (Andra Day), who are close friends with and actually see the crumbling relationship of Alex and Tess as mirroring their own unspoken problems. Others include a circle of friends, ala fresh age Big Chill (a great breakfast scene serves as homage) including Stephen (Sean Hayes) and Geoffrey (Scott Icenogle), who seem the happiest union in the bunch. Cooper as an actor has always been adept at comedy, and here in the standard best friend supporting role, exhibits again some exquisite timing, as does the wonderful Day, who memorably nails her all too brief few scenes. Also of note is Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Marilyn and Jan, Alex’s concerned parents, both veteran stars perfect.
Also perfect is the supporting crew of real comics at the Cellar, notably Jordan Jensen, Chloe Radcliffe and an especially hilarious Reggie Conquest and Dave Attell. Shout out to casting director Shayna Markowitz. Good as they all are, this is not another showbiz story for Cooper, but one laser-focused on a marriage that didn’t take account of the individual partner’s personal needs for happiness and fulfillment. This isn’t Punchline, but the milieu is an ideal backdrop, and the idea of standing on stage and finding yourself in the process is inspired. It is also a recurring kind of theme in many fresh films this fall, including Hamnet, with Will Shakespeare bringing his own marriage and tragedy into the creation of Hamlet; Stellan Skarsgard as a filmmaker writing a role for his daughter as a way to renew their estranged relationship in Sentimental Value; Brendan Fraser as a minor actor finding a real life gig in Japan uncovers his own flaws in Rental Family; and George Clooney as a superstar actor in a life crisis trying to find a way back into his family in Jay Kelly, all of them using a stage of sorts, like Alex, to fix their own shattered lives.
Arnett has rarely been given this kind of leading opportunity on screen, and he is superb here, an actor meeting a role that seems like it had his name written on it all along. Dern, as you might expect, also makes Tess fully three dimensional, a woman trying desperately to come unstuck and reconnect with the person she once was.
The filmmaking here is exceptional, including Charlie Greene’s exceptional editing, and the tight tense hand held cinematography from Matthew Libatique, and even Cooper himself who operates one of the cameras. If there is any other kind of moviemaking, This Thing recalls I would have to go back to much of the still fondly remembered canon of Paul Mazursky in the slow 60’s and 70’s, movies like Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice, Blume In Love, An Unmarried Woman, in-your-face portraits of humanity that give us up-close and personal connections to the characters that populate them. Cooper achieves that kind of intimacy here making Is This Thing On?, a stand-up achievement worth applauding.
Producers are Cooper, Arnett, Weston Middleton and Kris Thykier.
Title: Is This Thing On?
Festival: New York
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Release date: December 19, 2025
Director: Bradley Cooper
Screenwriters: Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett & Mark Chappell
Cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper, Andra Day, Ciarán Hinds, Christine Ebersole, Sean Hayes, Scott Icenogle, Amy Sedaris
Rating: R
Running time: 2 hrs
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