{"id":13790,"date":"2026-01-09T14:53:37","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:53:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=13790"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:00:26","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T02:00:26","slug":"is-this-thing-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/01\/09\/is-this-thing-on\/","title":{"rendered":"Is This Thing On?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Is This Thing On?<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Searchlight\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 121 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language throughout, sexual references, some drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Bradley Cooper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett and Mark Chappell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: James Newberry\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Matthew Libatique\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 19, 2025 (US, limited)\/January 9, 2026 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper, Christine Ebersole, Ciaran Hinds, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Scott Icenogle, Chloe Radcliffe, Jordan Jensen, Peyton Manning, Reggie Conquest, James Tom, Gabe Fazio, Blake Kane, Calvin Knegten.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0The truth is the hardest thing to hear. Brutal honesty is hard to take. Too many times, people keep quiet about what\u2019s bugging them. Maybe it\u2019s for the sake of their loved one\u2019s feelings. Maybe they don\u2019t like confrontation. Whatever the reason, things that need to be said go unsaid until they can\u2019t stand it anymore. Anything can happen at that point.<\/p>\n

\u00a0This is an all too common occurrence in many marriages. When a couple\u2019s been married for a long time, they settle into certain rhythms. They accept the way things are in silence. Both parties are unhappy and their partners know it but don\u2019t address it. It can lead to divorce. This is the position the Novaks find themselves in Is This Thing On?<\/strong>, the latest film from Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born). It opens with Alex (Arnett, Arrested Development) and Tess (Dern, Marriage Story) mutually agreeing to separate after 20 years of marriage. It\u2019s not an ideal situation, especially for their two young sons (Kane and Knegten), but they need to figure things out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Alex, feeling depressed and lost, wanders the streets of New York one night until he comes to a comedy club. In order to avoid paying the $15 cover charge, he signs up for their open mic night even though he\u2019s never attempted stand-up before. He takes the stage and proceeds to tell the audience about his impending divorce. It\u2019s a clumsy debut with long, long pauses. He does get a few laughs though so it\u2019s not a total disaster. Alex comes back again and again, each time a little more confident. Soon he develops a passion for his new thing, writing jokes in a notebook and hanging out with other amateur comics between sets.<\/p>\n

\u00a0So obviously, stand-up is Alex\u2019s way of coping with the possible end of his marriage. Unable to communicate with Tess, he talks to the audience instead. He\u2019s able to open up to them and say things he should be saying to his wife. Well, it\u2019s cheaper than a therapist.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Alex isn\u2019t the only one with issues. Tess has a lot of deep-seeded anger directed at him. Once a promising volleyball player, she gave up her Olympic dreams to be a wife and mother. Now that things have changed, she decides to return to her passion as a coach. This comes with an opportunity to coach the 2028 Olympic team. She also starts dating again, an old friend (NFL quarterback Manning) who\u2019s a coach himself. That relationship fizzles the minute he takes her to the same comedy club where Alex is performing a set. It\u2019s eye-opening for both of them to say the least.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As a director, Cooper makes the kinds of films we used to see in the 70s, a decade I consider one of cinema\u2019s best. Stylistically, I see shades of Altman and Cassavetes in Is This Thing On? <\/strong>with the overlapping dialogue and rough, unpolished look. This is a completely character-driven film. It\u2019s more about the people in it than the things they do. It\u2019s about how they act and react. It\u2019s about how they interact and relate. That Alex has sex with another woman isn\u2019t as significant as Tess finding out about it from his act. She reacts with a mix of anger, annoyance and jealousy. The acting by both leads, needless to say, is superb. They both capture the subtle nuances of their characters, two adults dealing with a major life change and the complicated feelings that come with it.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The rest of the cast is equally great. Andra Day (The United States vs. Billie Holiday) plays their friend Christine, the sort of person who says exactly what\u2019s on her mind without hesitation or regret. In one of the film\u2019s most powerful moments, she launches into a two-minute monologue about why she dislikes Alex (marriage made him complacent). She\u2019s married to Alex\u2019s best friend Balls (Cooper), an actor who\u2019s always changing up his facial hair for a role. He\u2019s the zag to Alex\u2019s zig. He\u2019s an upbeat sort who always manages to show up when Alex\u2019s spirits need lifting. What\u2019s good about Cooper\u2019s performance is that he makes a memorable impression without stealing the whole show. He leaves plenty of room for the main stars to shine.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Christine Ebersole (Licorice Pizza) and Ciaran Hinds (Belfast) are in top form as Alex\u2019s parents. She\u2019s the dominant partner; he prefers to retreat into his hobbies. She\u2019s blunt; he\u2019s soft-spoken. Both are supportive of their son. He, in particular, offers up great advice precisely when it\u2019s needed.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Is This Thing On?<\/strong> has a neo-realistic quality to it. The gritty cinematography by Matthew Libatique, in conjunction with Charlie Green\u2019s unpredictable editing, gives the film an almost verite quality. It\u2019s like you\u2019re in the room observing the characters\u2019 behavior. An intelligent screenplay by Cooper, Arnett and Chappell perfectly supplements the film\u2019s artistic aspects. It\u2019s very knowing about marriage and what it takes to make it work. I was watching it from the viewpoint of somebody who\u2019s been married for 18 \u00bd years. There is a lot of truth to it. It\u2019s not always pleasant to watch, but the naked truth of any situation rarely is. Either way, it\u2019s one of the year\u2019s best movies.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is This Thing On? (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Searchlight\/Comedy-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 121 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (language throughout, sexual references, some drug use)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Bradley Cooper\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett and Mark Chappell\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: James Newberry\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Matthew Libatique\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: December 19, 2025 (US, limited)\/January 9, 2026 (US, wide)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13792,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Is-This-Thing-On-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13790"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13793,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13790\/revisions\/13793"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}