Will Arnett in Is This Thing On?

Inspired by the dad-to-comic life story of British comedian John Bishop, Will Arnett and his writing partner, Mark Chappell, penned a film called Is This Thing On? about a sad dad turned stand-up comedian who gets his groove back on the stages of New York’s comedy scene. 

Director Bradley Cooper put a polish on the script, though it feels most influenced by Arnett, a funny man with many funny friends, enough to have spent time in the basements and back rooms of New York’s comedy clubs. But On is not really a paean to stand-up, so much as a mildly melancholy character drama about the sort of adult problems that beset adults with no real problems.

Arnett stars as Alex Novak, a successful enough guy with a nice enough house in a good enough suburb of New York City. His kids are doing well enough, his parents are overbearing but in that charming movie way. His wife, Tess (Laura Dern), is somewhat at odd ends, their kids old enough not to need her every second of the day, and years removed from her career as an Olympic volleyball player. Nothing is particularly wrong with Alex and Tess’s life, but the spark is gone from their marriage, they’ve become roommates and co-parents more than romantic partners. And so it is with no drama that they agreed to call it quits on their marriage. There is no bitterness, no one cheater, neither seems especially hurt, so much as disappointed that they, once college sweethearts, didn’t make it after all.

There’s something charming about how grounded, one might even say dull, Alex and Tess are. Movies about divorce are usually about couples in total melt down mode, but how many divorces look like Alex and Tess? No recrimination, no blame, just a bittersweet acceptance that they’ve drifted apart. But it does leave Alex living on his own in the city, and one night, high on a gummy and unwilling to pay the cover charge, Alex ends up on stage during the open mic at the famous Comedy Cellar. Another nicely grounded moment: he doesn’t crush it, but he also doesn’t bomb. And the encouraging laughter of the crowd is the only positive reinforcement he’s getting, so Alex finds himself going back to the club for more.

I’ve already complained that the stand-up in On sucks, but what the film gets right is the world around comedy. Alex quickly falls in with a group of comics grinding it out at the Cellar, cameos of recognizable comics are brief, even background material, though Amy Sedaris has a more noticeable role as a club manager. But the comics Alex befriends are gigging comedians played by the likes of Reggie Conquest, Chloe Radcliffe, and Jordan Jensen, who plays a comedian with whom Alex has a brief fling.

Meanwhile, Tess is getting back into the world of Olympic volleyball, taking a job as a coach. Unburdened by Alex’s expectations of his champion wife, and with their kids mostly occupied, she is rediscovering herself and her joy. Unfortunately, she does not get to have an affair. It is deeply annoying and very “written by men” that Alex is the only one who experiments sexually while Alex and Tess are separated. Tess goes on one loser date with drippy former athlete Laird (Peyton Manning, crushing it as a former athlete with negative rizz), but she never actually gets to enjoy her separation on the same level as Alex. Interesting! Hm! 

While Alex and Tess are separated, their fellow college pals, Christine (Andra Day) and the aptly named Balls (Cooper), are also contemplating divorce. Their child is off to college, Christine is clearly supporting borderline failed actor Balls, she openly resents him, he lives in a fog of marijuana. They, however, end up reconnecting once they are granted privacy from their child, which allows intimacy and affection to grow anew. It’s another pleasantly grown-up way of approaching mid-life, long-term relationships. Certainly, many people do end up divorcing when they become empty nesters, but the stories in On are about how middle-aged couples rediscover each other. For Christine and Balls, it just takes some time alone to reconnect.

For Alex and Tess, it’s about shedding expectations. Alex lets go of Tess’s golden days in the Olympics, learning to cherish the wife he has now, not the one he had then. While Tess…is basically faultless and amazing, and Alex, frankly, doesn’t deserve her and I don’t quite know why she stays with him except that is how it’s written. Again, very “written by men”. The weakest point of On is simply that the women have little interiority, their stories exist solely through the lenses and experiences of men. And sure, the movie is mostly about Alex, but it hurts the film overall that Tess is not equally interior. We spend a lot of time wandering around New York with Alex, but almost no time with Tess as a Team USA coach. 

For the most part, Is This Thing On? is a pleasantly grown movie for pleasantly grown people. There are no histrionics, what arguments do occur feel earned, and it’s nice to see a drama about normal people having a normal divorce experience. The inclusion of Alex’s budding comedy career makes for some interesting texture and a peek behind the curtain at comics working their way up one of the most competitive comedy scenes in the world. I just wish Tess was as much of a main character as Alex.

Is This Thing On? is now playing exclusively in theaters.