Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett’s Oscar comedy gamble

As mentioned, the fall festivals are coming—Venice starts this week—and that means the 2025 trophy season is now open. Frankenstein had its moment, and now we have a glossy Vanity Fair profile of Bradley Cooper’s latest film, Is This Thing On?, about a man who finds success in comedy just as his life is falling apart. 

The film is directed by Cooper, is co-written by Cooper, Will Arnett, and Mark Chappell, and stars Arnett as mid-life comedian Alex.

BCoop also co-stars as Arnie, Alex’s best friend, so as with his previous directorial efforts A Star Is Born and Maestro, Cooper is working all sides of the camera. Is This Thing On? is touted as the culmination of a 25-year friendship that began when Cooper and Arnett met through Amy Poehler, whom Arnett was dating at the time. Later, Cooper and Arnett became neighbors, and Cooper credits Arnett with helping him get sober.

They have worked together before, along with British writer Mark Chappell, on the David Cross series The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, and Chappell and Arnett previously made the series Flaked together, which is about a man struggling with sobriety. So, this is a group of dudes being pals, making stuff together and having that mythical thing known as male friendship. Maybe all those lonely dudes out there just need to like…get a hobby? 

Anyway, Is This Thing On? is inspired by the real life of British comedian John Bishop, who did an open mic comedy night on a lark in his 30s in the midst of a divorce. In the end, he and his wife reconciled through the power of comedy, and John Bishop went on to become a majorly popular comedian. He’s kind of like British Nate Bargatze but with swears. 

For the movie, the character is renamed “Alex”, as they are not making a biopic of John Bishop’s life, but rather taking his unusual entrée into comedy as inspiration for their own film, which admittedly sounds not unlike The Marvelous MISTER Maisel. But this is Bradley Cooper’s latest Oscar effort, so even though it’s about comedy and Arnett stumped in comedy clubs a few times to get a feel for standup, I expect Is This Thing On? to be more firmly centered on the relationship drama—Laura Dern plays Alex’s estranged wife, who is undergoing her own mid-divorce metamorphosis. It doesn’t sound bad, exactly, and I like Will Arnett a lot as an actor, I don’t think he gets enough credit for how good he is, his vocal performance as LEGO Batman is pure genius.

I just don’t particularly groove with BCoop as a director. He just wants that Oscar SO badly. I generally like people who aren’t afraid to display ambition, and I appreciate movie stars who don’t hide their Oscar interest—they all want to win, but few admit it—but Cooper calculates his movies so specifically for the Oscars I think it hurts his work, overall. Maestro is especially guilty of this, between smoothing out Leonard Bernstein’s edges to appease his family and sanding down the film’s edges to appeal to the Academy, the film has very little to offer regarding such a larger-than-life subject.

Maybe making a film about man “closer to the ground” than literally one of the greatest composer-conductors of all time will widen the path for Cooper as a storyteller. Maybe fictionalizing the story will help, too—I like A Star Is Born more than Maestro for that reason. And maybe not playing the main guy is another boon, allowing Cooper to focus more behind the camera, rather than having to make AND carry the film himself. I do believe Bradley Cooper is a very talented filmmaker, and I do believe he will win an Oscar for directing someday, but I don’t think it will happen until he f-cking relaxes a little bit. 

Is This Thing On? will close the New York Film Festival in October, ahead of a December 19 release date. That’s the holiday box office season, they’re not just expecting BCoop to make a run at trophy season, they expect Is This Thing On? to have wider audience appeal, too. The film opens opposite Avatar: Fire & Ash—which I originally typed out as “Avatar: Fire Nation” lol—which is putting a lot of faith in Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett to appeal as counterprogramming to that film. That’s a big gamble for a midlife crisis comedy-drama. Will the third time be a charm for Bradley Cooper? Let us know your thoughts at The Squawk! (App link here)

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