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Bradley Cooper certainly understands the span of cinematic history: he reinvented “A Star Is Born” for the current generation and tackled the life of the towering artist Leonard Bernstein in the epic “Maestro,” which seemed like a European art film as seen through an American filter. With “Is Thing On?” he gives audiences a drama shot with comedy in the vein of the best of indie storytelling of the 1970s and 1990s.
Packed with great performances, “Is This Thing On?” gives Will Arnett the space to flex his dramatic muscles, and Laura Dern to be, well, Laura Dern — she’s strong, funny and poignant.
The film starts out with the breakup of suburban couple Alex (Arnett) and Tess (Dern). They have twin boys, she’s a stay-at-home mom and he works in finance in the city. They have interesting friends with cool jobs. On the outside, they look like they have it all, but they are both frustrated and unhappy. Is this a film we’ve seen before? Yes and no.
Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell created a screenplay that upends expectations. Alex doesn’t go on a bender; he doesn’t plow every woman he meets. He grabs a microphone and does standup.
What?
Alex moves out into a bachelor pad in the city, and, distraught with how his life is going, he wanders into a comedy club’s open mic night. He gets onstage and mildly kills it. Bit by the comedy bug, Alex continues to perform, write material and ride a wave of encouragement and camaraderie from fellow comics.
While Alex is finding therapy onstage, Tess reignites her career as a volleyball coach. A former star on the U.S. Olympic team, she set aside sport for motherhood, but, encouraged by a colleague — a wonderful cameo by Peyton Manning — she goes back into coaching.
Director Cooper subverts clichés with a kind of emotional urgency through closeups on Arnett while he performs — we are literally in his face, feeling what he feels, seeing what he sees. It’s gritty and personal. It’s also an illuminating way to show off Arnett’s dramatic chops.
Fans of Netflix animated series “BoJack Horseman” already know the range that Arnett is capable of, and this performance is more raw, devoid of vanity, flecked with desperation, anger, confusion and, of course, humor.
Like many comic actors before him — Peter Sellers, Robin Williams, Steve Carell, Melissa McCarthy, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy — Arnett proves that comedy and drama are very much aligned in a talented actor.
In the end, Tess and Alex are adults, unafraid to finally ask for what they need to evolve their relationship, even though that is scary. The film is also not afraid to experience joy, and doesn’t turn away from the hard work a relationship demands.
Andra Day and Cooper, as Alex and Tess’ best friends, also model a marriage that takes work. Day is a hard-charging successful artist who is responsible for some of the blackest bits of comedy here; she’s married to hilariously dim actor Cooper. The loving chaos wrought by Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Alex’s parents in their family home further adds to the subversion of the film, upending expectations of film parents whose son is going through a life-changing event.
So, Cooper can do drama, and with “Is This Things On?” he adds comedy to his quiver.
English (US) ·