Movie Review: Is This Thing On?

 

Michael's Movie Grade: B+

An excellent dramedy. 

This movie follows a man going through a separation from his wife. During this time, he tries his hand at doing stand-up comedy, which proves to be very therapeutic for him.

What makes this film work is just how real it feels. Director/co-writer Bradley Cooper (who also plays a supporting role in the movie) along with his co-writers Will Arnet (also the film's star) and Mark Chappell (who wrote the very fun comedic whodunit See How They Run (2022)) keep this movie quite grounded in reality. The main character doesn't just step on stage and become a massive success. He still keeps his day job and most of his performances are at open mic nights. This not only keeps the story grounded but it helps because this movie is not about the career of a stand-up comedian but rather how doing this helps him make it through a very hard time in his life. If people like his act is secondary to what is inwardly happening to the man on stage. Adding to how real this movie feels are the two main characters. Both these characters are extremely well developed with personalities that reach far beyond what we usually see in romantic films. Important for a movie like this the two characters (played by Will Arnet and Laura Dern) also work together extremely well. We completely believe their relationship. We understand and can see how these two fell in love, while also see and understand what is making them drift apart after all these years. How real the scenes feel between them makes many scenes feel uncomfortable to watch, as they leave a real emotional impact on the viewer. The whole movie has the feel of not watching a movie but instead getting a private peek into the lives of real people. 

As a dramedy this movie is sporadically funny. Many of the stand-up scenes are truly hilarious. As crude as they get, they made me laugh quite a bit. However, once we get away from the stand-up stage, the humor falls flat much more often. 

The weakest part of this movie though is the supporting characters. We barely spend any time with the kids and by the end we still don't know anything about them. The main couple's best friends are not very interesting and at times annoying. Whenever the focus drifted to them, I was hoping it would drift back away again soon. While I cared deeply about the main characters' marriage, these two's marriage never felt real enough for me to truly believe. 

Despite any flaws, this is a deeply moving and quite intelligent movie.