Is This Thing On?

Is This Thing On? is a much more lowkey directorial effort from Cooper. He plays it cool, the whole film plays out less ‘performative’ - feeling more like a film he actually wanted to make opposed to it being a good idea to make.

Big fan of comedian John Bishop, of whom the story is based off, really interesting turn of events in a marriage - what the point of it is, why people do it. It’s questions that have been posed in many films before, but I really felt this offered a unique lens. The film is very funny, very emotional, but most importantly, grounded, the relationship feels real, their struggle feels real - it all just really worked.

Fantastic to see Will Arnett in a more serious role, he’s really good! There’s a moment very early on at a train station where he does a small ‘choke’ as the scene ends that really got me! Laura Dern was great too, obvs, the film played more like a two-hander than I assumed, but that really worked. Their dynamic and chemistry felt authentic to the story in a really effective way.

Great job from Bradley Cooper, in my eyes he’s 3/3, being a big fan of the controversial Maestro. I really, genuinely look forward to what he does next. Also, cheap shot playing “Under Pressure” - that song always gets me!!

This is almost a like, and I did enjoy bits of this, and a few parts were really funny, but it really did start to drag in the middle where I just kept checking how long was actually left. I couldn’t help comparing John Bishop to Will Arnett, and I’m just not sure the story translates itself well to America. If this was set actually in England I think it would have been much better. And Bradley Coopers character was just odd and annoying.

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Decent. A little stressful at times for my liking

A great way to expose the complexity of the marriage and that anything could serve as a blow-off valve.