by Eurocheese
On-screen marriages are often easy to summarize in film – couples who resent each other are destined to break up; if the spark is still there, they are bound to work through their issues and land a happy ending. Real life is not so simple, and the path forward is not always so clear. Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess Novak (Laura Dern) are in the middle of a split when Is This Thing On? begins, and giving the audience no initial context adds a perfect note of confusion; these characters don’t seem to understand how they’ve arrived here either! Every comment could lead to the whole relationship blowing up or could be a move towards reconciliation, but they agree that the relationship isn’t working.
Adult films don’t often offer candor when it comes to the frequency of long-term relationships breaking up. More common is the cynical sense that we understand all relationship dynamics. Screenplays are often eager to indicate, with a slight wink to the audience, where things are headed. This film wisely embraces the chaos instead...
After a night of mixed signals – Tess, the more forward of the pair, shoots a comment Alex’s way at a friend’s dinner, which is then followed by both of them falling into a familiar friendly dynamic before separating – Alex stumbles into a comedy bar for a drink. He learns he can avoid the steep cover at the bar by agreeing to go on stage, where (while drunk and high) he begins to babble about his life, landing a few laughs. He’s invigorated by this, finding it therapeutic, and later decides he wants to go back for more.
Laura Dern and Will Arnett in "Is This Thing On?" © Searchlight Pictures
We’ve never seen a raw performance from Arnett like this, and the vulnerable nature of being on stage with his life laid bare adds to the electricity of his narrations. He doesn’t know what he’s going to say next because he doesn’t know what he’s going to think next. Taking a character who has been internalizing his struggles and having him find solace in front of a microphone gives the script room to maneuver in any direction it wants. It’s hard not to be sympathetic when we realize Alex has been so busy in personal crisis, that he hasn’t found a way to fully process anything. He knows that he doesn’t have the idealized version of what he wants, but he doesn’t know his own motivations moving forward.
It would be easy, given this dynamic, to turn Dern’s Tess into either the villain who deserves retribution or the sweetheart who was hoping for reconciliation all along. She is neither. The story shows she is just as confused as Alex, feeling her emotions as they come and never knowing how she will react within a given situation. This character hinges on Dern’s ability to grant the audience insight into her headspace from scene to scene, sometimes watching her balance multiple emotions at once.
Another refreshing aspect of the film is watching the couple’s friends and family make assumptions about what’s happening, allowing the script to question what would typically be our audience surrogates. Characters begin reading into the relationship dynamics and even coming away with “lessons” that have absolutely nothing to do with what’s going on. The film isn't heavy handed about this – it’s just a reminder that we are always reading our own narratives into situations where they don't belong. This common problem plays into many of the film’s biggest laughs. Despite the heaviness of its central topic, the audience was cracking up consistently at the AFI screening.
Bradley Cooper & Will Arnett in "Is This Thing On?" © Searchlight Pictures
As the title implies, Is This Thing On? doesn’t want the audience to understand where the dynamic is headed. The writing is sharp, and Bradley Cooper’s direction keeps the energy and comedy high as each of our protagonists find their footing. Arnett and Dern are both giving performances worthy of award consideration, bringing a lived-in feeling that makes us believe their relationship dynamics. The audience walks away with a nice reminder that while empathy is crucial in life, we will never truly experience what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes. A-
Is This Thing On? from Searchlight Pictures opens on December 19th.