‘Is This Thing On?’ review: Bradley Cooper’s bittersweet third feature stars Will Arnett and Laura Dern

Dir: Bradley Cooper. US. 2025. 120mins

Like his earlier movies, director Bradley Cooper’s third characteristic chronicles the challenges of romantic dedication between two difficult, considerate individuals. Is This Factor On? stars Will Arnett as a person who finds an unlikely outlet for processing his impending divorce, impulsively attempting his hand at stand-up comedy. His nuanced efficiency is well-matched by that of his co-star Laura Dern, as his soon-to-be ex-wife who equally seeks to make sense of the top of their 20-year marriage.

Settles comfortably right into a melancholy register

After premiering on the New York Movie Pageant, this bittersweet drama screens in London earlier than opening theatrically within the US on December 19 and the UK on January 30. Cooper’s A Star Is Born and Maestro mixed for 15 Oscar nominations (and one win) — and 14 Bafta nominations (and one win) — so Is This Factor On? will enter awards season with a formidable pedigree. Comparisons to Noah Baumbach’s thematically comparable divorce image Marriage Story, which earned Dern a number of performing prizes, are inevitable, though Is This Factor On?’s novel milieu ought to assist distinguish it.

Finest recognized for his comedic work, together with his years on the beloved cult sequence Arrested Improvement, Arnett (who additionally co-wrote this screenplay) performs Alex, a seemingly unremarkable New York finance government who’s about to separate from his spouse Tess (Dern), a former world-class volleyball participant. The couple have remained pleasant, partly as a result of they’re devoted to collectively elevating their two younger sons, however Alex feels lonely and adrift as he strikes into his new house. One evening, misplaced in his despair, he wanders right into a comedy membership, deciding on a whim to carry out throughout an open-mic set. He has by no means performed comedy earlier than, however realises that happening stage and joking about his insecurities will get a response — and makes him really feel higher.

That is Cooper’s third straight movie as a director to probe the intersection of artwork and love, and right here he examines how an everyman faucets into his inventive aspect to exorcise his damaged coronary heart. Neatly, Is This Factor On? by no means means that Alex is an unheralded comedic genius. For Alex, stand-up is actually only a type of remedy, permitting him a wholesome outlet, in a room stuffed with strangers, to unburden himself in a approach he can’t elsewhere. Working together with his longtime collaborator, cinematographer Matthew Libatique, Cooper movies Alex’s unpolished stand-up units in close-up, emphasising how emotionally bare he’s on stage as he tries out materials — within the course of struggling to know what went unsuitable with Tess.

The movie refuses to vilify both character, consciously ready till close to the finale to totally clarify why the wedding sputtered. Disadvantaged of that key info, we will solely decide Alex and Tess by how they behave within the right here and now, which is amicable and even loving. However though the couple keep an affectionate rapport, they nonetheless betray fleeting hints of the strain and animosity that drove a wedge between them. When these mysteries are eventually revealed, the fragile scenes have an unfussy grace to them.

Arnett and Dern exude a straightforward, grownup chemistry as their characters begin the inevitable technique of letting go of each other as husband and spouse. Every of them flip to their very own secret balm: Alex has his open-mic units, whereas Tess reconnects with herself by turning into a volleyball coach. Their conversations, heat however barely guarded, convey all of the tangled emotions that make divorce so painful, even when the exes nonetheless get alongside reasonably effectively. If something, that weathered bond solely provides to the image’s quiet lament that Alex and Tess have reached this level of no return.

There’s an sudden plot twist late within the movie, and it’s a credit score to Cooper’s delicate depiction of those three-dimensional characters that it feels earned. That twist will even have an effect on Alex and Tess’ closest associates, married couple Christine (Andra Day) and Balls (Cooper), who’re equally wrestling with the impossibilities of sustaining a contented relationship. Cooper can generally pressure when offering the movie’s comedian reduction — his character is a cluelessly pretentious aspiring actor — however on the entire Is This Factor On? settles comfortably right into a melancholy register, watching Alex and Tess negotiate their new regular, with or with out punchlines.