.
What follows is an earnest two-hour look at a couple trying to figure out who they are outside their 20-something-year marriage, and wondering if they weren’t better off together as they dabble with the idea of reuniting.
But to make this will-they, won’t-they structure work, the film pulls every punch. There’s no real major blowouts, no messiness about schedules, no one ever discusses money (we never really learn what anyone does for a job, for that matter), and the couple’s two sons barely feature.
Everyone and everything is just a bit polite, at worst daring to tread on territory that could be described as minor, suburban, middle-class awkwardness as they plan a trip away with their mutual friends.
Luckily, at the same time, Alex accidentally discovers open mic stand-up comedy as an outlet to process his thoughts, in what should be a much-needed injection of tension.
Despite telling dad-level, non-jokes every time he takes the stage, the New York comedy club audiences, without fail, politely laugh and applaud Alex, while other comedians tell him he’s not funny but that he’s good.
The Big Screen: Dan Slevin Culture 101
Again, there’s no struggle here and none of it is really played for tension. After a while, it begs the question of what the film’s audience is actually supposed to emotionally latch onto.
It’s all a bit disappointingly flat in a film that has a lot of good things going for it outside its plotting.
It’s elegantly shot by Matthew Libatique (Black Swan, A Star is Born
Arnett delivers moments of genuinely convincing fear and sadness as he takes the stage in dingy comedy bars.
Laura Dern gives a solid performance as Alex’s wife Tess.
Searchlight Pictures
Dern, too, is solid. It’s unlikely to be a performance she’ll be remembered for, but it does a lot to imbue Tess with reality in a film that doesn’t actually tell us much about its characters. She’s unfortunately also left battling with some clunky dialogue as her character mulls a return to the world of international volleyball in her own side plot.
And Cooper himself steals several scenes as the film’s clown. Playing Alex’s best friend, Balls, he makes his first appearance falling on his face, the oat milk he’s carrying exploding over the floor, and then carries on at roughly that same self-deprecating level for most the film.
The laugh-out-loud comedy of his self-absorbed actor character, though, butts up against the quiet New Yorker-cartoon-level giggles the rest of the film seems to aim for. These kinds of tonal swings kneecap Is This Thing On? ,
All that said, a mid-budget, mid-brow, low-key, adult movie feels like something to aspire to and applaud in 2026.
And, if nothing else, it’s a fairly tight and easy watch that does just enough to keep itself moving for its runtime.
Is This Thing On? will feel like a comfortable return to a quieter kind of cinema, especially for fans of the likes of Terms of Endearment or As Good As It Gets – tear-jerking, star-driven films about unlikeable characters that wear their hearts on their sleeves, and which balance deep human pain with laughs.
But Cooper’s film never quite manages the balancing act, and its inoffensive, earnest and softly-softly approach leaves it all feeling like a lukewarm bath.
The Big Screen: Dan Slevin Culture 101