Is This Thing On? (2025)

Will Arnet impresses with a rare dramatic role. His IN here is that he's playing a comedian but the film doesn't lean into that as his stand up tends to be more focused on life stories with humorous tones than full on jokes, and the stand up isn't a huge part of the film. The main focus of Is This Thing On? is the marriage between him and Laura Dern as they negotiate a separation... or not. Perhaps that's what the title is referring to. 

So much is refreshing here. This is a romance (rom-com??) between two people who have been together for 20+ years and who are in their 50s (the film implies they are in their 40s for some reason despite the actors being 10 years older than that). It's the sort of romantic relationship our media doesn't tend to focus on and it generally tackles it well, getting into the complications of long terms relationships, especially when they are focused on other pressures (career, children, etc.). In fact the film makes us of Under Pressure to highlight this. 

If anything Is This Thing On? is just too slight in the end with the depth of its analysis being fairly low key. That's common in rom-coms but the reason I hesitate to use that term to describe this is that it doesn't lead into the funny, or the typical structure of the genre. Still, Cooper has a real directing talent and this is a strong entry in his filmography even if the script itself is on the lessor side. 

Is This Thing On?
Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper 

Director: Bradley Cooper, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, Ciarán Hinds, Scott Icenogle 

Writers: Will Arnett, Chappell, Bradley Cooper