It’s not often that Will Arnett gets a starring role in a movie (period) that isn’t aiming to leave you belly-laughing on the floor. Is This Thing On? takes that image of Will Arnett in your head that looks suspiciously like Gob Bluth and twists it, leaving behind Alex, a broken family man working through his depression using stand-up comedy as a crutch. Seeing as that was the whole point of Bradley Cooper’s comedy-drama, we’d say that’s pretty good.
Perhaps a more obvious choice to star longside Will Arnett as the other half of the duo stuck in this loveless marriage comes Laura Dern as Tess, who convincingly slots right in under the guise of Bradley Cooper, still in his directorial infancy. That’s not a knock on Cooper. Is This Thing On? conveys a visually engaging style throughout, even if the structure does occasionally suffer. A well-crafted, heartwarming script ties it all together.
Untying the knot
Is This Thing On? leans into the mundane finality of a heartbreaking but otherwise ordinary and believable situation, which turns out to be its greatest strength. When Alex and Tess Novak finally agree to call it quits on their marriage, they both go on a spiritual journey to discover what makes them tick without the other. The film doesn’t muck about — kicking off with a no-nonsense divorce that implies our heroes must’ve been happy… once upon a time.
The pair remain friendly under mounting pressure from a shared social group and continue co-parenting their two children after the split. They eventually stumble into what makes them happiest. For Alex, it’s an unfounded love for stand-up comedy that not only offers the audience a peek into his soul, but a window for Alex himself. For Tess, it’s a rekindling of her passion to coach Olympic-level volleyball now that she’s past her prime.
That all makes Is This Thing On? sound a whole lot more serious than it is. It doesn’t spend much time down in the dumps before things pick up for the Novaks. Cooper quickly finds his stride here as not only the film’s director, but also one of its core writers (joined by Will Arnett and Mark Chappell). Is This Thing On? isn’t as funny as you’d expect from a film about stand-up, but it got more than a couple of chuckles out of us, anyway.
Like A Star is Born, Cooper’s first swing with the directorial bat, Is This Thing On? struggles to hold the structure together. The film is certainly at its best when it lets Arnett and Dern off the metaphorical leash, or when it seeps into the underbelly of the comedy scene that we can only accept as accurate to the wider area of New York.
Stand up, Will Arnett
While anybody who’s ever seen Laura Dern in anything could tell you that she’d knock it out of the park, we were less sure whether Will Arnett could turn up to the plate. Like Hal-turned-Walter White, we were initially worried we wouldn’t be able to look past Gob Bluth’s past. Arnett proved us and Hollywood wrong, a move that’s sure to net the actor a few more dramatic roles in the coming years, apart from his Lego Batman reprisal.
Stick the two actors in the same room, and the chemistry is about as electric as their respective performances. Is This Thing On? manages to balance the viewers’ expectations by helping them easily root for both leads — though the onus is clearly on Arnett to drive the story forward and ultimately deliver the ending that we eventually get.
Fortunately, we don’t spend much time with a wider cast of characters that fill out the rest of the film. It’s here where Cooper’s structure wobbles most, cramming in unnecessary characters that didn’t jive with the rest. Cooper’s insert — “Balls” — is likeable enough, handing many of Alex’s morals right to him in a roundabout way.
Visually, this thing is on
Visually, Is This Thing On? is, surprisingly, pretty damn good — for a film that centres around a divorce and the subsequent putting back together of one’s psyche as much as this does, at least. More than once, we press uncomfortably close to Alex as he pours his heart and tacky jokes out at a local comedy club, which only serves to make him feel that much more vulnerable and thus, Arnett’s performance more believable.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the camera loves to sit still and allows the figurative action to erupt before our very eyes. When it works, it works — demonstrating the deep loneliness both our leads are feeling.
Is This Thing On? verdict
A solid, crowd-pleasing dramedy that could get just about anyone involved, barring maybe kids who haven’t yet experienced the pangs of a break-up, nor the work it takes to pull oneself out of the abyss. Is This Thing On? revels in the everyday, ordinary lives of two divorced and middle-aged parents just trying to be better than they were yesterday. It’s heartwarming, funny, and proof that Will Arnett can and should be in more things.
Bradley Cooper, on the other hand, still has a way to go before he can truly cement himself and his work as a must-see-in-theatres sort of director. While much fun can be had with Is This Thing On? in a theatre setting alongside a fresh bucket of popcorn, we’d have been more than okay seeing this at home with the lights off.
Is This Thing On? begins its local theatrical release today, Friday, 06 February.
