Bradley Cooper’s 2025 film “Is This Thing On?”, which is currently available on Disney+ in South Korea, is an engaging mix of drama and comedy. While it looks relatively modest compared to his two previous directorial works “A Star Is Born” (2018) and “Maestro” (2023), the movie is still worthwhile to watch for its small but intimate moments, and it also shows us a more serious side of its lead actor’s talent.

Will Arnett, who also served as the co-producer and co-writer of the film, plays Alex Novak, a plain ordinary guy who has been going through a period of mid-life crisis due to a domestic issue between him and his wife Tess (Laura Dern). They have been married for 20 years, but they recently agreed to end their marriage, and now he lives alone in an apartment in the nearby city while Tess continues to live with their two young sons in their suburban home.

However, we cannot help but observe how they are still emotionally connected with each other, when they go together to an evening meeting for them and their several friends. While their recent separation is not a secret to their friends at all, Alex and Tess simply enjoy themselves along with their friends, and we come to sense more of their remaining emotional bond as they talk and walk together for a while after the evening meeting.

Anyway, after sending his wife off at a train station, Alex wanders around the city a bit, and then he comes across a little comedy club. He enters the comedy club mainly because he needs to drink a bit, but then he is required to volunteer to do stand-up comedy because he does not have any money for paying the entrance fee right now. 

Needless to say, Alex is quite awkward when he has to go up to the stage later, but, what do you know, he comes to show some potential once he talks about his life and his crumbling marriage in a self-deprecating manner. After receiving a considerable amount of positive reactions from his audience, he is requested to do more standup comedy in the next time, and he finds himself gradually becoming more interested in standup comedy as preparing his comic materials mostly based on his current status of life.

  While this does not suddenly turn himself into a new promising comedian to watch, Alex gets improved bit by bit as doing his shtick during one evening after another. As cinematographer Matthew Libatique’s handheld camera closely hovers around him, we observe how he becomes more confident and relaxed as throwing some effective punchlines for good laughs – and how he feels somehow liberating as opening himself more and more in front of others.

And this little change in his life begins to affect his current relationship with his wife. As becoming more honest and straightforward than usual, Alex comes to admit that he still loves Tess, and it turns out that Tess also has regretted their decision to divorce. While their kids as well as their parents do not have much problem with that, both Tess and Alex begin to have doubts about their initial decision as being reminded more of what still remains between them, and it seems that they can actually restore their relationship via this unexpectedly recharged affection between them.   

Of course, there eventually comes a moment when Tess happens to discover what her husband has been doing behind his back, but the movie handles this supposedly predictable moment with more sensitivity and thoughtfulness than expected. As the camera lingers on her face for a while, the movie deftly conveys her complex feelings to us in addition to vividly capturing the humorous aspects of the situation between her and her husband, and we come to care about her own mid-life crisis as much as Alex’s.

It surely helps that Cooper draws good performances from his two main performers. Arnett, who has been mainly known for his showy comic performances including his Emmy-nominated supporting turn in American TV comedy series “Arrested Development”, surprises us as deftly dialing down his usual comic persona for his unexpectedly nuanced acting here in this film, and he is particularly good when his character struggles to articulate his feelings during several key scenes in the movie. On the opposite, Laura Dern, who has been one of the most dependable actresses in our time during last 40 years, brings enough human warmth and personality to her three-dimensional role, and she is certainly her co-star’s equal acting match as their characters push or pull each other along the story. 

Cooper also assembles a number of various performers to notice. Several performers playing stand-up comedian characters in the film are believable with their authentic details, and Amy Sedaris brings some extra humor as the emcee of the comedy club. Andra Day, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, and Ciarán Hinds are also solid in their respective supporting parts, and Cooper steals the show at times as the goofy actor husband of Day’s character. 

On the whole, “Is This Thing On?” looks like a minor work compared to Cooper’s two previous films, but it still holds our attention via its good storytelling and the enjoyable efforts from its main cast members. It does not surpass my expectation, but it did its job as well as intended with enough humor and sensitivity, and I appreciate that with some applause.