A One Mann’s Movies review of “Is This Thing On?” (From the 2025 London Film Festival). (2025, 3.5*, ’15’).
In the end-titles to this film there was the name “John Bishop” as a co-writer and producer which I immediately dismissed with a “No! Surely that must be a different John Bishop”. But actually, no, it is Liverpudlian comedian John Bishop and this film – “Is This Thing On?” – is loosely based on the events of his own life. Here though, we are transported to a US setting and Bradley Cooper directs.
One Mann’s Movies Rating:
Plot:
The marriage of Alex Novak (Will Arnett) and Tess Novak (Laura Dern) is falling apart. By pure accident, to avoid a cover charge, Alex goes to the mike at a standup comedy club and finds talking about his crisis both gets laughs and helps his mental state.
Certification:
UK: NR; US: R. (The film has not yet been rated by the BBFC but I would expect it to be a 15 for language, brief sex and references to drug-taking. It is rated R in the US.)
Talent:
Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper, Andra Day, Ciarán Hinds, Christine Ebersole, Calvin Knegten, Blake Kane.
Directed by: Bradley Cooper.
Written by: Will Arnett, Mark Chappell & Bradley Cooper. (Based on a story by Will Arnett, John Bishop & Mark Chappell.)
Running Time: 2h 4m.
Summary:
Positives:
- An interesting story with some funny exchanges: Bradley Cooper has most of the best lines.
- Will Arnett and Laura Dern are very good together as the bickering just-about-still-married couple.
Negatives:
- The standup feels very American (we have different senses of humour/humor).
- The general gist of the film – middle aged couples in crisis – has been done to death.
Full Review of “Is This Thing On?”:
Same old, same old.
We start the film at a soirée of married couples who are good friends. They are generally getting drunk, smoking (there is SO much smoking in this film!) and chattering on about nothing in particular. There are obvious marital tensions and I thought “sigh… we’ve been here so many times before”.
But then, an almost unrecognisable Bradley Cooper arrives as Arnie: an actor, heavily bearded for his role as a disciple in a new play. I guess it’s your prerogative if you are both the co-writer of the film and the director to make your own character the most interesting. Because Arnie, or conversations about Arnie, tend to get all the best lines and the best laughs. He is generally very funny as the outrageously dressed and often drugged-up actor. “Are you talking about me?” he butts into a discussion his wife Christine (Andra Day) is having. “No”, she replies, “Someone alive”.
Later in the film, someone is asking Christine about their sex life: “Do you ever fuck sober?” someone asks her. “No, I hate him too much for that!”. Still later, when Will is questioning why he is still so bearded he shoots back “I can’t CHOOSE when my character leaves me”! LOL.
Alex and Tess.
The Novaks, Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess (Laura Dern), appear to their friends to still be the perfect couple and they do seem to be having fun together: they give an ‘Irish goodbye’ at the party by sneaking out with some stolen drug-laden cookies to get high on. (This feels highly unsafe on the New York metro!)
But we discover that they actually are separated and Alex has an apartment in the city while Tess still lives in the family home, in the leafy suburbs, with their two boys (played by Blake Kane and Calvin Knegten).
Accidental stand-up.
Where we diverge from the general miasma of mid-life marital-drama movies is with Alex’s foray into stand-up. He refuses to cough up a $15 cover charge at a comedy club but is told that if he puts himself down on “the list” then he can get in for free. He does so but then of course he is called to the mike, without any prepared material, and rambles on about his marriage break-up. This is a bit squirm-inducing but also quite poignant.
Alex gets a few laughs, but is obviously pretty dreadful at it. But he is encouraged by the other performers and ‘gets the bug’, repeatedly doing sessions and both getting better and, in so doing, relieving some of his mental angst about his family situation.
The film displays a nice sub-culture between the performers and that camaraderie turns into some much needed sex for Alex with the dry-witted comedienne Jordon (played by the real-life stand-up comic Jordan Jensen). They do it “in front of the armoir” much to the horror of Tess, when she finds out, who wants to protect the honour of the well-loved family heirloom!
Volleyball
The film focuses on the mental struggles of Will, but you also get the feeling that Tess is struggling just as much, but hiding it better. But the film also shows a positive story arc for her as well. She used to be a Volleyball Olympian for the US: given Dern’s athletic body and stature, this feels wholly believable. But then she sacrificed her career in the sport to bring up the kids and you feel the resentment burning. With the Olympics coming to Los Angeles in 2028, Tess is given the chance to go into coaching the US team and she grabs it with both hands.
She also gets to date an ex-colleague and a scene in which she is getting excited at the possibility of getting laid again is very funny.
Good performances.
There are some good performances in here, with Laura Dern getting a better crack of the acting whip than we have seen her get recently (she seemed very much underused in “Jay Kelly“). It’s also splendid to see the great Ciarán Hinds, (who I thought throughout the film was Brian Cox!), as the wise father-in-law, obsessed with juice cartons! His meeting with Alex after seeing his ‘meltdown’ comedy performance was a super piece of acting.
Summary Thoughts:
I thought this was going to be a potential bomb, but it ending up was quite an enjoyable piece. The US brand of stand-up comedy never quite gels with me compared to UK comics, but that is just down to our different national sensibilities. But this film is one that I would be happy to sit and watch again when it gets released.
The film is currently scheduled for a UK cinema release on January 30th, 2026.
Where to watch?
Trailer:
The trailer for the film is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TE5v3U79i6s.
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