Alex Wheeler Movie Ops

The New York City comedy scene is well-trod territory in film. Subterranean hole-in-the-walls make for striking settings, and the hopefuls tweaking the same sets over and over, keeping a dream alive at night as they squeak out a life during the day, are loveably fascinating. Normally, the comedians are struggling to pay rent. But in Is This Thing On?, our kinda funny protagonist is struggling for meaning instead.

When the film starts, Alex (Will Arnett), has been on autopilot for a while. His job was comfortable, his family nice. But passion was long gone, and in an act of acquiescence instead of fight, he and his wife, Tess (Laura Dern), decide to split. There’s no clear reason stated. The film opens with them navigating the awkward moments where they’ve decided it’s over but not told anyone. And then Alex is living in his own apartment, the dramatic revelations happening offscreen.

In the empty quiet of his new life, Alex stumbles into a comedy bar, and instead of paying the cover fee, he signs up for five minutes onstage. He fumbles through and loves it, returning again and again to get that hit of feeling something. He’s largely working through his divorce, playing out the old trope of doing comedy instead of going to therapy. And so the film goes. Old trope after old trope, the path laid out very clearly in front of us, never wavering in its course.

A film being familiar isn’t always a bad thing. A simple plot leaves room for other aspects of storytelling, like character or tone, to be brought to the fore. Those things can carry a film as well. It’s only a problem if nothing expands to fill the space.

Unfortunately, nothing becomes complex enough in Is This Thing On? to fill that space. Ostensibly, it’s supposed to be Alex that absorbs your attention, with his comedy causing him to unfurl the complexities he’s hidden under a reserved life. It’s a great idea, particularly when paired with the issues you discover about him and Tess’ marriage. The film begins with them giving up on their relationship, and the reasons why are held back until late in the film. That’s because they aren’t admitting the reasons to themselves. The kind of honesty required to keep the relationship going is terrifying, and they both choose to slip away instead. Once they finally get the courage, it’s understandable why they dreaded the conversation. But it’s not quite so bad that it makes sense for them to split up. There should have been more there, something deeper and more explosive. Arnett and Dern almost find it through their excellent performances, but the film is doing everything it can to avoid big moments, wafting, instead, through its gentle story. It makes for an easy watch, but not a satisfying one.

The trouble continues as you expand past the central couple. Their friends feel like capital C Characters, especially Bradley Cooper as Alex’s best friend. He’s still pursuing acting, finding small roles but not getting a break, all the while writing off responsibility as the cost of his artistic life. His wife (Andra Day) is left holding the bag, and her exacerbated response is most of her character. Cooper directs and co-writes as well, making this his third and much more modest feature. Perhaps he was intentionally keeping it light after the weight of A Star is Born and Maestro, but he needed to do a bit more with the material. A great enhancement would have been to bring back the striking feeling of moving from life to stage like he captured in A Star is Born. The stage is Alex’s chance to get his life back, so while it’s only a raised platform in the basement of a bar, it should feel bigger.

The slight underplay isn’t too detrimental on its own, but Is This Thing On? is a series of underplays. Alex’s comedy doesn’t really have a spark. He doesn’t quite fit into the comedy scene in a way that feels natural. And his and Tess’ relationship feels like it has an unexplored layer. It’s an affable enough film, but it has too much unrealized potential.

Release: In theaters now
Director: Bradley Cooper
Writers: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Mark Chappell
Cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper