Director: Bradley Cooper
Actors: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper
Genre: Drama
Rating: M
‘Is This Thing On?’ is a simple indie family drama that follows Alex (Arnett) and Tess (Dern) as they separate, and the impact on their marriage, lives, parents Jan (Hinds) & Marilyn (Ebersole) and kids – Felix (Kane) & Jude (Knegten). Alex deals with this by inadvertently taking up stand-up comedy at New York open-mic nights, hence the title – although I’m not sure he actually says that specific line. Obviously he’s awkward and unpractised, but has plenty of recent life events to use as stories.
We get to see how Alex & Tess deal with their amicable
split with their mutual friends, Christine (Day) & Balls (Cooper), plus Stephen
(Hayes) & Geoffrey (Icenogle). They have relatively minor roles, but it’s
fun to see Cooper as a director, and then getting to play an absent-minded stoner
too. He uses lots of handheld camera, with lots of close-ups, which leads to an
intimacy with Alex and Tess. Arnett is good and mostly-subdued, not an over-the-top
caricature, pretty far removed from Gob.
It’s quite quick at 2 hours, and maybe has some unnecessary moments,
but does a good job to show a realistic
relationship and the impact of decisions on friends and family. The cast is
great, the stand-up is OK and good to
watch Alex progress. Ending and song choice are very strong.
Overall: Enjoyable human story
Gav’s Rating: 4 stars
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