I have been on a journey towards re-embracing my creative pursuits in a way that doesn’t force them into the box of monetisation and functional utility. In the past I have tried so hard to find a way to reshape my passions into something I could meaningfully call “work” or something productive, when in actuality these are the things that give us life and an enjoyment therein.
Bradley Cooper’s third feature film in the director’s chair opens next month, and it explores this idea through the medium of the time honoured romantic comedy. If his first two directorial features (A Star Is Born and Maestro) had you wondering where he could possibly have been going next, Is This Thing On? will only invite viewers to expect something new and fresh from Cooper with each new project he helms.
Is This Thing On? is a romantic comedy about marriage in a similar vein to films like Marriage Story or The Story of Us, focussing on Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess’ (Laura Dern) marriage as it begins to fall apart. What sets Is This Thing On? apart from the plethora of other similar films is the way it centres around the art of stand up comedy.
When Tess informs Alex of her intention to end their marriage, he finds himself wandering the streets of New York, stumbling upon the New York comedy scene by signing up to an open-mic night as a way of not having to pay the entrance fee to a bar. He falls in love with performing, and we follow Alex’s stand up career as it develops in parallel to his personal life. He meets new people, he discovers a new-found sense of identity and confidence, and he begins working through his own frustrations, regrets and feelings about his relationship.
While this certainly isn’t a high bar to clear, given just how poorly stand up has been captured and presented in narrative film in the past, a great strength of the film is how accurately and affectionately it depicts the world of stand up comedy. And not broad,
arena-sized comedy that so often seems to somehow find its way into films about comedy. It is grimy, unpolished and kinetic, largely having been filmed at the iconic Comedy Cellar in New York. Jordan Jensen, a stellar young stand up out of New York, brings a sense of authenticity and warmth to the already solid cast, and smatterings of other comics populate the background to fill it out with a grounded sense of reality. (The legendary Dave Attell makes a brief but satisfying cameo.)
All of which allows the film to express its thematic heart clearly in a way that it would not be able to, had its backdrop of New York comedy not been so accurately and lovingly evoked. Arnett brings the laughs, but also carries the weight of the emotional throughline with skill and empathy. He is endlessly charming as a divorced dad rediscovering his love of life, and gives a performance full of empathy and warmth. His performance is all the more impressive, given it rises to the bar set by his counterpart in the film, the always incredible Laura Dern. Unsurprisingly, Dern is phenomenal in every moment she is on screen, but the chemistry between Dern and Arnett is what gives Is This Thing On? the staying power that so many rom-coms lack.
What begins as a fairly standard marriage drama develops into something more interesting. Through Alex’s discovery of a new skill and passion, the film pivots into being about the importance of being able to pursue a life of creative and social fulfillment. In rediscovering his love of the creative pursuit and his love of being silly, he rediscovers the person who Tess fell in love with in the first place. Not only that, but in doing so he gives Tess an example that she is then able to follow. It is a hopeful film that imagines a world in which relationships, no matter how fractured, can flourish again in the rediscovery of the passions and dreams that are so often dampened by adult life.
So while this is certainly not anything new for audiences, it is a wholesomely funny romantic comedy with a real love for and celebration of creativity and exploration as an essential part of adult life. So often we can be sucked into the idea that our hobbies and passions aren’t important unless we can somehow monetise them or justify their
existence alongside work and family life. Rather, these are the things that not only can give us life as individuals, but also allow our relationships to flourish directly as a result. The biggest compliment I could give this film is that it expresses a genuine desire for everyone to find fulfillment in creative or personal pursuits for their own sake. Not despite or alongside our relationships, but as a vital way of bringing our whole and healthy selves to each other in earnest, fully seen and loved for who we really are.
Jonty writes about film, narrative and culture on his Substack, “Postcards from the Abyss”.
