Is This Thing On? Review: Consciously Uncoupling Under the Spotlight

 Let’s call the whole thing off, thinks a couple when their 20-year-long marriage appears to have run out of steam. That’s the starting point of the movie Is This Thing On?. It’s the third directorial outing from Bradley Cooper following A Star Is Born and Maestro, and like those two films, Is This Thing On? looks at love and the ways in which it can morph under the spotlight’s glare. It is co-written by Cooper, Will Arnett, and Mark Chappell.

Agreeing to separate, wife Tess (Laura Dern) stays with the kids in their suburban home while husband Alex (Arnett) takes an apartment in Manhattan. Alex “works in finance” but we never see him at a job although he clearly earns enough to afford two homes and the purchase of a new car to ferry the kids around now that he’s a weekend dad. One evening, while out with empty pockets, he gets into a comedy club by signing up to perform a set instead of paying the cover charge. Totally inexperienced, he takes the stage and unsteadily coughs up all his marital difficulties. Feeling unburdened and warmed by the modest encouragement of the house comics, Alex discovers an outlet for his frustrations and a surprising avenue for self-development. He takes to the comedy stage like a neurotic to a psychiatrist’s couch. If this season’s Bruce Springsteen saga Deliver Me From Nowhere shows how therapy can help resolve festering psychological issues, Is This Thing On? argues that a microphone and a spotlight can have their own curative powers. As Alex’s performance improves, so do his feelings for his family.

Less attention is paid to Tess’ separation journey. Both she and Alex vie to maintain their mutual friends’ companionship. Two couples – played by Andra Day and Cooper (here portraying a total loon named Balls, a supporting character after his two leading roles in his previous self-directed films) and Sean Hayes (Arnett’s SmartLess podcast co-host) and Hayes’ real-life spouse Scott Icenogle – pop in and out of the story, as do Alex’s mom and dad (Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds). Midpoint in the movie, Tess decides to return to her old love, volleyball, as a coach. A former Olympics competitor, Tess meets with her old coach, played by Eli Manning. It’s a distracting bit of business since Manning is such a recognizable figure, yet known for a different sport than the one he is representing here. His presence interrupts the narrative illusion.

Most of the film focuses on Alex’s development as a comic writer and performer. Even though he finds camaraderie with the other performers, the film reveals little of the comedy-club atmosphere. Matthew Libatique, the cinematographer who was twice Oscar-nominated for shooting Cooper’s previous two movies, films Is This Thing On? in generally irritating close-ups. It keeps the primary focus on Alex, reinforcing the idea of stand-up performance as therapy rather than an occupation or entertainment. What might happen to Alex, once removed from the spotlight, remains a black hole.