By Kyle Flynn

If I were to sum up the three films of Bradley Cooper in a single word, it would be earnest. A Star Is Born marked a turning point in his career — not just a performance that reaffirmed his command as an actor, but also his debut as a filmmaker capable of channeling emotional truth into cinematic form. Maestro felt like a window into Cooper’s own psychology: a work that revealed his deep reverence for Leonard Bernstein while simultaneously giving him space to explore his own creative identity. With Is This Thing On?, Cooper turns that sincerity inward once again, crafting a film that examines how art — in this case, the art of stand-up comedy — can become a means of survival and healing. 

The story follows Alex, played by Will Arnett, a man in the midst of a painful divorce from Tess, portrayed by Laura Dern. Together, they share two children and a network of well-meaning, if meddling, family members. Caught in the turbulence of separation and self-doubt, Alex begins performing stand-up comedy, using the stage as both a confessional and a coping mechanism. Through his routines, Alex performs mostly bad but tender stand-up.

What’s striking here is the quiet maturity of Cooper’s filmmaking. There’s a noticeable growth in his filmmaking, a sense that he trusts the material despite still overselling it a little bit. Every choice feels deliberate: the rhythm of the edits, the framing of a face under the club’s dim lights, the pauses between laughs. His continued collaboration with cinematographer Matthew Libatique pays off beautifully. The camera often hovers close, capturing the intimacy of the story. The occasional handheld movements and soft natural lighting give the film a lived-in texture. (Libatique even pops up for a brief cameo, a small touch that made me smile.)

The screenplay, written by John Bishop, Mark Chappell, Bradley Cooper, and Will Arnett, is solid but somewhat predictable. It hits the expected emotional beats and thematic turns with a kind of structural precision that occasionally feels too neat. Despite feeling so familiar, there were moments of dialogue that still touched me. 

The grander ensemble featured in the film radiates with their collective passion for the project. Will Arnett gives a career-best with regard to his live-action performances. Laura Dern is as good as she has ever been. Bradley Cooper and Andra Day use their screentime to bring their characters to life.

With a film like ‘Is This Thing On?’ I feel like it would be fair to complain about how safe it feels, especially when questioning how it fits in conversation with Cooper’s previous projects, especially with Maestro, which feels like so much of a creative swing in form. However, I would be lying if I weren’t won over by the film’s end. It felt like Cooper’s personal attributes were on full display, making for something that felt unusually honest to me. 

3 1/2 star