Is This Thing On?: What Bradley Cooper Really Needed
After making a melodramatic Oscar-bait film that took itself too seriously (Maestro), Bradley Cooper decided to cast himself as a character named “Balls” in his next. This name is never addressed in the film.
Maestro, Cooper’s sophomore film, was largely seen as trying too hard to be a spiraling epic following the life of Leonard Bernstein, so much so that audiences thought it wasn’t very good, boasting an unimpressive audience score of 57% on Rotten Tomatoes . Among the reviews I read for Maestro, they all agreed it was “doing too much.” Is This Thing On? is not doing too much.
Is This Thing On? stars Will Arnett as a middle-aged father going through a divorce who finds solace in stand-up comedy. And while, yes, Alex (Arnett) may not be particularly great at stand-up (to begin the film, anyway), the movie is surprisingly very funny. I walked in with relatively low expectations, assuming I’d get a laugh here or there, but I was laughing constantly through the movie. The screenplay is tight and witty (I mean, c’mon it makes a Jacob’s Ladder reference?), and the movie is charming more than anything else. I didn’t leave the theater thinking I had just watched the greatest movie ever made, but I was instead just happy. And though Is This Thing On? isn’t trying to be the greatest movie ever – it’s trying to be a simple mid-life crisis rom-com – it manages to be more than that.
Bradley Cooper opted not to cast himself as the lead, and I think it was his best decision for two reasons. The first is that Will Arnett is fantastic in this movie. As a huge fan of Arrested Development, I didn’t think Arnett would ever be able to outdo his performance of Gob Bluth, but I think he managed to do it. Arnett balances comedy and drama effortlessly, and I really would like to see more dramatic roles from him. Arnett has an uncanny ability to perfectly deliver hilarious lines, but still hold deep pain beneath the laughter and jokes. His performance reminded me a lot of Kieran Culkin in A Real Pain: Funny, but going through some shit.
The second reason that Cooper’s decision to not make himself the spotlight of the film works is that it allowed him to focus a lot more on refining his directing. Is This Thing On? utilizes almost entirely handheld cameras and closeup shots (and when I say close, I mean it; a hell of a lot of the movie is just Will Arnett’s face). And while it takes some getting used to, I ended up really liking the style Cooper went with. It lends itself really nicely to making the film feel really raw and human because I felt the suffocation and anxiety that Arnett’s character feels throughout the movie. And this style does not prevent Cooper from showing off some bravado here and there because he certainly does. There is one notable shot in which Arnett opens an attic door and exits through it only to walk right onto stage to start performing. It may not be groundbreaking stuff, but it works really well because it isn’t trying to be. I do think Cooper should continue to cast himself in smaller roles to let his directing prowess shine.
That said, while Cooper may not be starring, he still delivers a downright hysterical performance. He plays the “Shakespearean fool” really well. It fits him perfectly. But Cooper is not the only actor beside Arnett to give a good performance. Co-lead Laura Dern is equally as human and real as Arnett is and despite rooting for Arnett all the way, I still found myself understanding why Dern’s character wanted a divorce–and most of that is due to her sympathetic portrayal of a wife and mother who feels abandoned. One gripe I have with the movie is also related to casting, namely the underutilization of two of the best actors in the movie. Sean Hayes and Ciaran Hinds get a combined screentime of maybe eight minutes, and it’s unfortunate because both are really good actors and I would’ve liked to have seen more of them. Peyton Manning probably gets more lines than the two of them combined.
My other issue is with the screenplay (which I did really like overall). I found some of the dialogue clunky. There’s a scene in which Andra Day’s character has a sitdown/heart-to-heart with Arnett and the conversation is almost entirely an exposition dump. The film also struggles to understand that ten year old kids don’t talk like adults. The kids understand that their parents are splitting up way too quickly and also get over it pretty quickly too. I would’ve liked to have seen more moments of both Arnett and Dern comforting the children, or at the very least guiding them through such a confusing time. We get the occasional scene of that, but I can’t help but think there’s some missed opportunity there.
While the second act of the movie may be where it shines (the first act is pretty slow to get started and the third feels cliche and overly long), the whole film succeeds. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s human, and it isn’t trying to be anything it’s not. In my opinion, it’s the kinda thing Bradley Cooper really needed to get back on his feet. His direction is subdued and not over the top, the screenplay is quite good, and the performances are just fun to watch. I don’t expect any Oscar nominations to come from this film, but then again, maybe that’s what Bradley Cooper needs. Just a nice and fun movie he made with his friend Will Arnett (even if he totally stole the “Under Pressure” needle drop from Aftersun).
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