Based on a UK comedian they may be, but events here are transported to New York. The film opens with Alex Novak (Will Arnett) looking lost at his kid's assembly before we witness him and wife Tess (Laura Dern) calmly decide to call time on their marriage. Feeling lonely (and broke) Alex signs up for an open mic spot in order to avoid paying the entrance and ends up diving headlong into the world of stand-up comedy, which ends up serving as a unique kind of therapy. Meanwhile Tess returns to her first love, volleyball, and the two try to navigate their new co-parenting relationship and address the things that made them grow apart.
This is director Bradley Cooper's third go behind the camera and with both his previous films receiving Academy Awards attention it's clear he is out to put some prestige on this story. The camera spends most of the time up close and personal with the actors, particularly Arnett, giving the home scenes some intimacy and capturing the sweaty atmosphere of the stand-up performances. It was Cooper who changed the focus of the movie to the central relationship (the original script prioritised the stand-up journey) and his immersive style complements the personal nature of the story.
The issue is, there isn't enough in the script to get the film to where it wants to be. The observations on marital troubles are very surface level. It's all "I felt lonely because you checked out", and "I was struggling but too proud to ask for help". The sort of relationship analysis that serves as the accompaniment in the kind of grown-up movie this is trying to be, not the main course. There is charm in watching Alex double down on being a good dad (his midlife crisis car purchase is a minivan to run his sons around in) but the kids themselves seem to exist solely so the audience knows exactly where our protagonist is on his emotional journey at all times. They ask him if he has any life goals near the start of the film (they are ten years old, by the way) and quiz him on his stand-up journal when it's time for him to reckon with his complicated feelings around his new venture. There's nothing wrong with keeping your viewers up to speed but many scenes are so on the nose there isn't room for anything deeper to take root. It doesn't help that Arnett and Dern don't exactly have sizzling chemistry, meaning stolen glances and poignant silences sell awkwardness more than buried love.
Apart from the lack of spark with his co-star, Will Arnett does a stellar job leading the film. His weary face and natural likability draw you in and his ability to sell sadness without total misery keeps you on his side throughout. He is believable as a doting, but realistic, father and sells the awkward exhilaration of the stand-up scenes. He doesn't quite nail one particular on stage rant, which feels like it was designed to play on the Oscar sizzle reel, but that is probably more down to the angry speech feeling unearned than his performance.
Arnett is backed up by a strong supporting cast including the likes of Christine Ebersole, Andra Day and Ciaran Hinds, but Bradley Cooper keeps the best ancillary role for himself. He plays Alex's best friend, a jobbing actor called Balls who is realistically either too stupid or too off his face to be getting by as well as he is but the tonal shift he brings every time he is on screen lifts the movie. The fact that the other highlights mostly involve the real-life stand-ups that make up the club scenes points to a movie that might have been better served with a less sincere, more overtly comedic tone.
To excel, Is This Thing On? needed either a richer vein of comedy or more bite in the relationship drama. As is, it is a perfectly serviceable gentle dramedy that is very unlikely to bring the awards recognition of the director's previous films. There is nothing wrong with turning out a solid mid-tier movie but you get the distinct impression everybody involved wanted this to be more.
6 zingers out of 10
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