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Is This Thing On?, starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern, directed by Bradley Cooper
Trailer: Searchlight Pictures

Is This Thing On?
Directed by Bradley Cooper
Rated R
Saddened 19 December 2025
#IsThisThingOn

After asking "Is this thing on?" the next question should be "Is anybody here worth knowing?"

Running Joke #1

A comedian meets a footballer. There’s a story to tackle.

No. Is This Thing On? isn’t based on Will Arnett’s own life. It’s been reported the actor – previously married to Amy Poehler and Penelope Ann Miller (but not at the same time) – met British comedian John Bishop at a dinner years ago and was inspired by the guy’s personal tale of going from footballer to comedy baller.

Okay. That’s cool.

One of the precepts offered to students interested in screenwriting – or writing of any sort, really – is to write what you know. But that becomes its own joke as early efforts of young filmmakers and playwrights often play out like exercises in navel gazing. Deeply personal views and experiences are relayed via stilted dialogue and cringe storytelling.

The key is to write what you know – but make it interesting. Amp up certain aspects of the reality; heighten or exaggerate elements to make them more compelling and universal.

And that’s where Is This Thing On? falls flat on its face, despite the creative power of Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett and Mark Chappell all clacking away at their keyboards.

This relationship dramedy – released in December as a remarkably sour piece of Oscar bait – is less for singles and more for battle-scarred couples seeking some sort of cinematic therapy. A delightful date night this is not.

To wit, this movie has its own version of a Jerry Maguire moment. It’s not "You complete me" or "You had me at hello."

Heck no.

Here, it’s "I was unhappy in our marriage. I wasn’t unhappy with our marriage. I want to be unhappy with you. Let’s be unhappy together."

So, the rallying cry behind Is This Thing On? is to be happy with somebody you can be unhappy with. Associated with this revelation is the payoff for something like a running joke, one involving a giant poster of a photo of Tess with a look of disgust on her face when seeing the new-model VW van Alex just bought. The punchline – such as it is – is this poster of Tess’ disgusted look replaces a poster Alex had been very excited about. That one was a vintage photo of Tess spiking a volleyball during her college hey days. But it was a photo of her back, not her face.

That irked her.

Of course, a giant poster of a woman displaying a look of abject disgust is also irksome.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the crux of Is This Thing On?

Stand-up Therapy

A woman, her date and her ex-husband walk into a comedy club.

Ultimately, Is This Thing On? is a tale of uninteresting, self-absorbed people making the shocking realization that couples need time away from each other, pursuing personal interests that keep them excited about life, which – in theory – also keeps them excited about being around each other. What should be a given is instead a revelation.

Will Arnett plays a guy named Alex Novak. Alex works in the dull world of finance; he’s not a comedian. While struggling through the impending implosion of his 20-year marriage (which represents the trailing years of a 26-year relationship), he seeks solace in a simple beer. Stopped at the entrance to a comedy club in New York City, Alex is somehow stunned by the concept of paying a cover charge. It would seem like a joke in itself: a New York City financier is taken aback by the idea of having to pay $15 to step inside and get a beer while being entertained by amateur stand-up comics.

With his fortunes dwindling and the prospects of going back to his drab apartment all alone wholly unappealing, Alex takes an alternate route. He gets in for free by signing up to perform as one of the stand-up acts.

The results aren’t pretty.

Not the first time. Not ever.

When he gets on stage, he has no idea what he’s going to say. (Hey, that’s improv, baby.) So, he starts talking about his personal life. He’s not particularly funny, but the Manhattan crowd is all too easily pleased and laughs uproariously. They even applaud – not a Bronx cheer, but seemingly genuine applause of appreciation.

And just like that, Alex gets the stand-up bug.

It becomes a sort of therapy as Alex mines his personal life’s challenges for new material.

Trouble is, he’s not funny.

And what’s alarming is it’s eventually revealed he used to be the funniest guy in his small group of close friends. He used to be "magnetic."

Wow. Talk about being beaten down. This dude spends most of the movie totally demagnetized.

Couples Therapy

A couple rekindles their romance after reigniting their separate interests.

Beyond Alex’s relationship with his wife, Tess (Laura Dern), he hangs out with another couple facing marital crises, played by Bradley Cooper and Andra Day. There’s also an oddly detached third couple made all the more head-scratching since this couple is played by the real-life couple of Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle. It doesn’t quite work; their characters are too undefined. They’re basically this movie’s red shirts, although they don’t land on a mysterious planet and immediately get zapped by aliens, leaving Bradley and Will to go on to explore this strange new world of stand-up.

But they do help with an overlong scene of Andra preparing breakfast while singing Amazing Grace. She’s joined by Sean and Scott.

It doesn’t work.

As for Bradley, his character, Balls, is wholly annoying. He’s an "artist." He’s an actor who grows a beard and boasts of being able to play any one of the Apostles while clearly not being a believer in much of anything.

And Balls is ultimately emblematic of the biggest problem with Is This Thing On? These characters are simply not fun to be around. Maybe the trio of scribes are writing what they know, but they’re not writing to make it interesting.

Out of left field (or, perhaps, the end zone), there’s a sorta funny cameo by Peyton Manning as one Tess’ old friends from her volleyball days and a potential new lover. While Alex explores stand-up comedy, Tess is looking at rebooting her career as a volleyball coach and things start to swing her way quickly.

This is when an idea starts to take a life of its own because the movie’s drab enough to allow the mind to wander.

Here’s the distracting thought: Bradley Cooper’s a huge Philadelphia Eagles fan. Peyton Manning’s a two-time Super Bowl champion from the Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts. Plus, he’s starred in countless commercials demonstrating his comedic chops. While Is This Thing On? is some sort of comedy or dramedy, Manning’s role is pretty straightforward light drama and his casting doesn’t really make sense. Why didn’t Cooper hire Jason Kelce or some other Eagle?

Running Joke #2

Smile, darn ya, smile.

There are some nice movie moments, to be fair. But noticing things like how the movie was shot in a 1.66:1 aspect ratio, the use of lots of close-ups and how there’s a nicely lit scene of confetti streamers dancing in the sunlight doesn’t necessarily reflect the overall quality of the filmmaking.

There’s also a slick segue from an attic to a comedy stage driven by a propulsive score that desperately tries to pick up the movie’s pace as the two independent stories of Tess and Alex finally converge in the comedy club.

Fine.

But it’s all expendable because Cooper and Arnett know where they want this gig to end.

Alex and Tess have two grade-school sons who are inexplicably obsessed with the song Under Pressure, the classic rock song from the duo of Freddy Mercury and David Bowie. It’s a little bit of a running joke, or at least the setup for another long-gestating punchline that delivers a too cutesy ending with a payoff involving the kids in a peppy, happy performance of the song.

And, of course, it’s a song with a message.

"Give love one more chance."

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.