‘Is This Thing On?’ is Bradley Cooper’s best directorial effort
Searchlight
Can a lightly comedic story of marital discord and middle-aged discontent feel like a good hang? Should it? No matter your answer to the latter, director/co-writer Bradley Cooper absolutely answers the former in the affirmative, growing beyond the fussy phoniness of “A Star is Born” and “Maestro” toward ease and real intimacy that “Is This Thing On?” can’t live without.
After two decades of marriage, Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess (Laura Dern) are separating with a shrug, simultaneously certain of it and a bit dazed from a persistent distance that feels unprocessed. Soon this finance dude is doing open mic nights at the Comedy Cellar and his ex is considering taking a run at coaching volleyball, the sport she dedicated her life to as a player until she gave it up completely for family life. This all might seem somewhat common or simple, yet another examination of individual dissatisfaction or miscommunication in couplehood, a sort of privileged navelgazing where emotional support is the only currency anyone seems to worry about.
And yet Cooper, committed to close-ups and long takes and a natural flow of life unfolding in the moment (and also very funny as a perpetually stoned character named, yes, Balls), turns what very easily could have felt like “It’s Complicated” into an understated and understanding depiction of the personal and interpersonal knowledge that sometimes takes way longer to show up than we think. Without the arch creepiness of “American Beauty” that has become the Best Picture’s identity over the years, “Is This Thing On?” has a similar pursuit of a shot in the arm, a non-cheesy sort of reflection that’s very on brand for these type of characters and people of a certain age but that feels earned here.
Maybe that’s because Arnett and Dern bring so much confidence to the way Alex and Tess at first don’t seem to know anything and then seem to know everything and yet still can’t quite be sure what that means. This is a funny, mildly challenging and darkly uplifting movie containing both recline and hunger, sudden clarity and total cognitive messiness, great scenes and ideas more complicated than they may seem. Some will walk out and forget it immediately, while others will debate it endlessly. Gotta wonder if those people are seeing it together or not.
B+