What’s Funny About Your Life?

Bradley Cooper’s Is This Thing On? is good, but not great, and it feels a bit disappointing after A Star Is Born and especially Maestro (one of my favorite movies of 2023). Both of those films exhibited the confidence of a director fully in command of his vision, but this latest one feels looser and a bit unsure of itself.

Cooper’s latest has moments of real insight and emotion, but it also meanders and is occasionally frustrating. You can see what he’s going for — something raw and human about creativity and connection — but the final product just doesn’t quite get there.

Will Arnett (who co-wrote the film with Cooper and Mark “Chappie” Chappell), stars as Alex, who is adjusting to a divorce from his wife, Tess (Laura Dern), and who, one night, wanders into a comedy club. To avoid paying the $15 cover charge, Alex puts himself on the open-mic list and, unsure of what to do next, proceeds to use his time on stage to discuss his new life. Surprisingly, he likes it and keeps going back — his act becoming a reflection of his midlife uncertainty and a means of rediscovering himself.

While Alex keeps his standup pursuits on the down-low, Tess, a former Olympic volleyball player turned coach, confronts the sacrifices she made for their family, forcing the couple to navigate co-parenting and their identities as a duo and as individuals.

As a struggling stand-up comic trying to find both his voice and his footing in life, Arnett acquits himself well in a role that isn’t purely comedic. There’s a lot of quiet, internal work happening in his moving, vulnerable performance, rather than the sardonic attitude he’s known for. Cooper shoots Alex’s standup sets in tight, revealing close-ups before slowly widening to show the audience’s reaction, allowing us to see the exhaustion behind Alex’s eyes, and the tension between wanting to make people laugh and not really knowing how to make himself happy. That said, the movie leans on the familiar “sad clown” trope — the idea that pain automatically equals depth — and sometimes forgets that being interesting and being sympathetic aren’t always the same thing.

The film’s sense of place, though, is fantastic. It feels deeply New York — not the touristy version, but the one full of small, crowded bars and comedy clubs. Cooper casts several actual comedians in supporting roles, such as Chloe Radcliffe, Jordan Jensen, and Reggie Conquest, giving the club scenes extra authenticity.

Meanwhile, the scene-stealing supporting cast of local actors adds to the familiarity: Amy Sedaris (who voices Princess Carolyn opposite Arnett’s title character on the Netflix show BoJack Horseman), appears as the club’s no-nonsense manager, and two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole shows up as Alex’s mother. Their performances add texture and wit, grounding the story in a recognizable world. 

And fans of the podcast Smartless will no doubt enjoy seeing Sean Hayes and his husband, Scott Icenogle, who play a married couple (natch). Their small roles are rather superfluous, but their presence makes you smile anyway.

Where the movie stumbles is in its storytelling rhythm. It falls into some of the usual traps of “stand-up movies,” such as the comedy-as-therapy thing. Similarly, Alex does get better and more comfortable each time he goes on stage, but it’s never quite clear that he’s good enough to deserve all that stage time.

In addition, the relationship between Alex and Tess is uneven — it wants to be messy and real, but it mostly just feels undercooked. You can see what Cooper’s aiming for emotionally, but the arc doesn’t fully land.

Unlike in his previous directorial outings, in which he played one of the lead characters, Cooper here shows up just in a supporting role, as “Balls,” Alex’s perpetually high actor friend, who is unhappily married to a wife played by Andra Day. While it’s kind of cool to see Cooper step out of the spotlight, his character ends up being more distracting than compelling. It feels like he’s deliberately playing off-type — which I can appreciate — but it gets to be a bit much late in the movie. Cutting out some of his own performance might have helped Cooper’s movie with its overlong running time.

Still, there’s something endearing about Is This Thing On? Sure, it’s a flawed film, but it has heart. Cooper and Arnett have a strong off-screen relationship (Cooper credits Arnett with getting him sober), and that bond is an asset here as Cooper’s direction and Arnett’s performance often line up perfectly. The film is not the knockout I hoped for, not after Cooper’s previous two films. But it’s honest, a little messy, and occasionally touching. 

I’m giving it a B.