Is This Thing On?: Will Arnett Plays Serious in Standup Comedy (and Divorce)
By Jim Slotek
Rating: B+
In some 30 years covering comedy, I have seen plenty of people with better paying jobs go all-in to stand-up. Admittedly, given the pay scale at comedy clubs, that could be almost anybody. But I’m talking lawyers, real-estate agents, dentists, stock traders…
Whatever they find onstage must be some pretty powerful stuff. And whatever it is, it’s the mojo that makes
Bradley Cooper’s newest directorial effort Is This Thing On? more than either the story of a troubled marriage or a guy who finds clarity standing in front of a microphone and a brick wall.
It’s, ironically enough, a terrific, serious performance by Will Arnett, arguably the best of his career. And it’s based on a real-life onstage incident experienced by British comedian John Bishop, an erstwhile pharma marketer whose nascent comedy material was largely extremely personal life experiences from his impending divorce. Then his wife, through pure chance, ended up attending one of his sets.
The American-ized Is This Thing On? is thus two stories, connected by a mike. The catalyst is financial agent Alex (Arnett) separated from his wife (Laura Dern) and going though the motions of pre-divorce, putting his best game-face on for his young sons, who aren’t buying any of it, and when alone, seeking solace in alcohol.
His search for the latter leads him to Greenwich Village’s legendary Comedy Cellar, where, to save the cover charge, he signs up for an open-mike set, not really understanding what that will entail. But under the lights, he does what one does when drunk: he opens up, in this case about his marriage. It’s a car crash (as often witnessed at open mikes), but some of the lines are off-the-cuff funny, enough so that he’s invited back for more divorce material.
This is not an overnight-sensation story. The height of what we see of Alex’s comedy “career” is opening for pro comic Dave Attell (which, if you know he is, is no small thing).
But it’s a door to what’s really going on is his marriage to former Olympic level volleyball player Tess (Dern), who gave it all up to be a wife and a mother. You don’t have to be a trained marriage counsellor to understand the latent disappointment inherent in that description, disappointment masquerading as marriage fatigue.
As a follower of the craft, the comedy milieu hit me where I live, and was my preferred part of the movie - set as it is in a legendary club I’ve visited often back in the day (the manager, Liz (Furiati plays herself), with the pre-and-post set banter of actual comics. It’s a vibe that can be supportive or cruel, depending on who’s talking (the archetypal description is watching a colleague “kill” onstage, and stonefacedly remarking, “That’s funny.”)
The, again ironically, lighter half of the movie is the environment of friends who surround Alex and Tess as they go through their on-again-off-again divorce dance (Tess witnessing Alex onstage describing his first post-split sex experience actually has her rethinking him).
That part does indeed kind of play like Friends, 25 years later, if two of the Friends had been gay (real-life spouses Scott Icenogle and Sean Hayes play them). There are antic miscues at a seaside home, sex of the “Shhh, they’ll hear us” variety, and director Cooper having his own onscreen moment as, ahem, Balls, a barely-working slob of a screenwriter who’s happy enough having money for pot. His achievement-oriented wife (Andra Day) is not.
More than one couple announces they’re divorcing, and then, turning on a smiling dime, they’re not. And this is supposed to be the serious stuff in the movie.
In fact, there is virtually nothing to be learned in Is This Thing On? about what makes for a successful marriage, any more than there is to be learned about why people lay themselves bare for 10 minutes on a stage in search of laughs.
That may be the best, and most authentic thing about Is This Thing On? It retains its mystery.
CLICK HERE to read my interview with Will Arnett.
Is This Thing On? Directed and co-written by Bradley Cooper. Stars Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day and Bradley Cooper. In theatres Friday, December 19.