October 10, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Bradley Cooper
Culture Representation: Taking place in New York City, the comedy/drama film “Is This Thing On?” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans, Latin people and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A father, who’s separated from his wife, finds an emotional outlet in stand-up comedy, while he and his estranged wife decide if they get back together or get divorced.
Culture Audience: “Is This Thing On?” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, filmmaker Bradley Cooper, and bittersweet movies about marriage and personal transformations.
The comedy/drama “Is This Thing On?” is less about becoming a stand-up comedian and more about whether or not a separated married couple will get back together. The movie’s talented performances mostly overcome the story’s shaggy and uneven tone. At times, “Is This Thing On?” looks like it can’t decide whether it wants to be an acerbic adult drama or a sentimental family comedy. It doesn’t completely succeed at either, but it has enough moments where its shines to keep most viewers interested or curious to see what will happen next.
Directed by Bradley Cooper, “Is This Thing On?” was co-written by Cooper, Will Arnett and Mark Chappell. Cooper and Arnett are two of the producers of the film. “Is This Thing On?” is the third movie that Cooper has directed, following the 2018 remake of “A Star Is Born” and the 2023 Leonard Bernstein biopic “Maestro.” “Is This Thing On?” (which had its world premiere at the 2025 New York Film Festival) doesn’t have a celebrity as the protagonist. Instead, the central character is a “regular guy” named Alex Novak (played by Arnett), who lives in New York City and is having a mid-life crisis that leads to a personal crossroads. (“Is This Thing On?” was filmed on location in New York City.)
In the beginning of the movie, Alex is shown looking bored and unhappy at an event where Chinese dragon dancers are performing at the school where his two sons (about 10 and 11 yeas old) are students. Older son Blake (played by Blake Kane) is intellectual and somewhat neurotic. Younger son Calvin (played by Calvin Knegten) is fun-loving and more adventurous than Blake. There’s a reason for Alex’s discontent: He and his wife Tess (played by Laura Dern) have separated after being married for 20 years and knowing each other for 26 years.
Alex’s job isn’t specifically stated in the movie (he makes a brief and vague mention that he works “in finance”), and he’s not seen at the office where he works. Tess is a homemaker who used to be an Olympic volleyball player in her 20s. She’s been a homemaker for an unnamed period of time—definitely since her children were born. After separating from Alex, Tess starts seeking out job opportunities to become a volleyball coach to Olympic hopefuls. Peyton Manning has a fairly small supporting role as Laird, a colleague from Tess’ past, who meets with her about a possible job as a volleyball coach.
Alex and Tess didn’t break up because of infidelity, addiction, abuse or financial problems. Their marriage crumbled because Alex and Tess are bored and frustrated with each other and their lives. The movie doesn’t have flashbacks to give any insight into what led up to their decision to separate. However, they are the type of estranged spouses who don’t get into vicious screaming arguments. They try to keep their verbal disagreements as civil as possible.
One night, Alex goes to a comedy club, but he doesn’t have the cash for the $15 admission fee. (It’s a weird contrivance for the movie. Doesn’t Alex have any debit cards or credit cards to pay the admission fee?) When he finds out that it’s open mic night at the club, and anyone who signs up to perform that night will get in the club for free, Alex impulsively decides to perform so he doesn’t have to pay the cover charge.
Alex’s first stand-up set is improvised and somewhat awkward. But he loves the freedom that stand-up comedy gives him to joke about his personal problems and other things in his life. Alex is hooked. He gets to know some of the people who consistently perform at the local comedy clubs. And he begins to consider doing stand-up comedy as a professional career.
Many scenes in “Is This Thing On?” were filmed on location at the Comedy Cellar in New York City with real paying audiences, not people who hired to act as audience members. Comedy Cellar manager Liz Furiati portrays herself in the movie. Amy Sedaris has a small role as the Comedy Cellar’s open mic emcee named Kemp.
Alex discovering stand-up comedy and becoming part of a stand-up comedy community could have been a very intriguing central concept for the movie. However, the majority of “Is This Thing On?” is about Alex and Tess going back and forth about whether or not they want to divorce or save their marriage. The stand-up comedy aspirations take a back seat to this spousal quandary.
The acting performances are credible, but the movie’s story is at times unfocused. Alex’s entrée into the New York comedy scene seems like a detour to the main story about his marital dilemma, when the stand-up comedy storyline and the marital storyline could have existed as parallel routes in a better screenplay. The teaser trailer for “Is This Thing On?” is somewhat misleading because it makes it look like the stand-up comedy storyline is the main story of the film. This “bait and switch” might or might not disappoint some viewers.
Supporting characters in the movie are a bit underdeveloped. Alex’s parents Marilyn (played by Christine Ebersole) and Jan (played by Ciarán Hinds) adore Alex and his family, but that’s all the movie shows about these two grandparents. Marilyn really likes Tess and gets along well with her, so Marilyn is naturally upset that Tess and Alex have split up. Marilyn tells Alex that she still wants to be a friend to Tess.
Alex and Tess, even after they’re separated, still hang out together with two longtime friends: an unhappily married stoner couple named Balls (played by Cooper) and Christine (played by Andra Day), who are the most annoying characters in the movie. Balls (a struggling actor who tends to get small roles in TV and in theater) and Christine (who appears to be a homemaker) are competitive with Alex and Tess. Christine and Balls have a 17-year-old son, who is heading to college but is never seen in the movie. And that’s all you’ll find out about this insecure “frenemy” couple.
Alex, Tess, Balls and Christine hang out with a friendly gay married couple named Stephen (played by Sean Hayes) and Geoffrey (played by Scott Icenogle), who have almost nothing told about them in the movie except they are a third couple in the “triple date” hangouts shown between these six people. “Is This Thing On?” makes Stephen and Geoffrey so vague and inconsequential to the story, Stephen and Geoffrey didn’t need to be in the movie at all. It seems like Stephen and Geoffrey are only in the movie as “tokens” who are not presented as anything but “gay friends to the story’s heterosexual protagonists.”
Perhaps the biggest disappointment in “Is This Thing On?” is the movie’s superficial depiction of the New York comedy scene. Although the movie has real-life comedians (such as Jordan Jensen, Chloe Radcliffe and Reggie Conquest) portraying themselves, they have cameos, not significant roles, in Alex’s life. Fun fact: “Is This Thing On?” cinematographer Matthew “Matty” Libatique also portrays a stand-up comedian in the movie.
“Is This Thing On?” glosses over or outright ignores how cutthroat and competitive stand-up comedy can be in real life. All the comedians who interact with Alex are immediately helpful and nice to him. If these new acquaintances have any dark sides to their personalities or personal demons (and many stand-up comedians do in real life), you don’t see any of that in this movie. Some of the comedians tell Alex that they think he’s got the potential to be a successful comedian if he works hard enough at it, but none of them seems jealous, and any criticisms they have for Alex about his comedic talent are told in a light-hearted manner. It’s all too good to be true.
There’s also a climactic scene using the Queen/David Bowie song “Under Pressure” that might remind people of the “Under Pressure” scene in the 2010 comedy/drama “It’s Kind of a Funny Story,” directed by Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden and starring Zach Galifianakis. Considering that Cooper and Galifianakis co-starred in “The Hangover” movies together, and Cooper is a well-known movie aficionado, it’s hard to imagine Cooper not being aware of this “Under Pressure” scene in “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” and possibly being inspired by it. It’s not a ripoff scene in “Is This Thing On?,” but more originality was needed for this movie’s climactic scene.
“Is This Thing On?” mostly excels in its performances. Arnett and Dern have believable chemistry as a couple trying to figure out if they should stay married or not, and as parents trying not to let their marital discord be traumatic to their children. Some of the stand-up comedy bits and other scenes are amusing. The movie’s cinematography (lots of shaky-cam closeups) might not be to everyone’s liking. However, as an overall cinematic experience, “Is This Thing On?” hits in enough of the right places to watch the movie at least once and get some enjoyment out of it.
Searchlight Pictures will release “Is This Thing On?” in U.S. cinemas on December 19, 2025.
