Turns out you do. And Cooper is both funny in it, and wondrous behind the camera. In a few words, it’s a film you won’t want to miss.
I thought the days of the great romcom were behind us. I mean, we haven’t had a When Harry Met Sally in well over three decades and nowadays, every romance film has to involve one of the partners getting sick, and/or dying and loads of crying fits in between. I want joy when I go to the movies, I’m funny that way.
But then in comes Bradley Cooper to save the day. He’s handsome — in person, Ladies, he’s even more good looking than you could ever imagine because he’s also very tall! — he’s talented and he’s got a great story to tell. It does help that the story of Is This Thing On? is inspired by true events in a real living person’s life. And that after the film, during the Q&A with the cast and crew, I was sitting right behind him and — SPOILER ALERT! — his wife. But let me tell you a bit about the film before I confuse you, and myself any further.
Alex Novak (played by the bigger than life Will Arnett) is a man going through the motions. His wife Tess (Laura Dern) demanded a separation after 20 years of marriage and Alex’s job in finance is so insignificant to him, we never even see him at the office in the film. Alex and Tess are still friends, without benefits, as the story kicks on. On sadder than usual nights, Alex drives all the way to his wife’s house in the suburbs, from his standard-looking, bachelor pad in NYC, just to watch the light in his sons’ bedroom, as their mom puts them to sleep.
Then one night, half drunk, having just eaten a pot-laced cookie and having left his wallet on the train his wife is on, as he gentlemanly walked her out of a friends’ party, Alex stumbles upon The Comedy Cellar — a place near and dear to my heart as a New Yorker. Downstairs from Middle Eastern eatery The Olive Tree, on magical MacDougal Street, the place, both upstairs and downstairs, holds memories of my teenage years, growing up in nearby Soho.
Unable to pay the cover charge and looking for a drink to complete his buzz, Alex signs up for an amateur comedy night and goes on stage. He’s not half bad, as it turns out, and through his words and awkward silences, the latter abound in his routine about divorce and love trouble, we sit on the edge of our seat. Just in case you were wondering, this is where the real life person comes into the puzzle, as the story is loosely inspired by Liverpool-born comedian John Bishop, though mangled English accents have been avoided by changing the location to NYC. In the process, Cooper manages to also weave into the film a love song to the Big Apple, his home these days, and show parts of Lower Manhattan that have been avoided in films. And we wonder why, as his leading man darts across darkly lit streets and makes his way into a grand finale which involves the auditorium of the school where Cooper’s daughter is enrolled. In real life.
Cooper and Arnett in a still from the film
OK, that’s a lot of information, but I haven’t given you the half of it. Supporting the couple at the center of the film is a cast that includes two dogs — Cooper’s own, it is obvious in one scene where he carries one of them, the canine thespian clearly in seventh heaven — the filmmaker himself, as “Balls”, Alex’s best friend, Andra Day as Balls’ wife Christine, Ciarán Hinds as Alex’s dad, Christine Ebersole as his mom, as well as Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, comedian Chloe Radcliffe and even Payton Manning in a charming cameo.
The story, oddly, was the result of a fortuitous meeting on a boat somewhere, between Arnett and Bishop, where the latter told the former about his foray into standup comedy. The result is true cinematic perfection, featuring enough laughs, tears and romance to fill a theater — or a hundred.
What made the film so successful? Perhaps it’s the great chemistry between the filmmaker and his good friend Arnett, because the part is written with such candor and love it could only have been written by someone’s friend. And if we are to believe the gossip rags, which I don’t but they jump off the page when you google “Arnett and Cooper,” the former helped the latter get sober. Doesn’t get any more personal than that!
At the special awards screening in London for the film, which was featured in the extensive BFI London Film Festival line up, Arnett broke down at the end of the Q&A, when he admitted to us, the audience, and probably himself for the first time, how grateful he was for the part — that Cooper had believed in him so much to cast him as Alex. I can understand why, as that seems like the part Arnett was born to play, along with Cooper as Balls — he is a born comedian!
The film is Cooper’s third directorial effort, and as an audience member mentioned, he keeps getting better and better.
With a cast and cameos that hold the key to all that is great in Hollywood, Is This Thing On? is my favorite Hollywood film of the year. It is the reason Hollywood was born, to tell stories that belong to a firmament of their own, wrapped in beauty, talent and enough star power to make them sparkle.
Is This Thing On? is a Searchlight Pictures release and will be in US theaters starting December 19th.
All photos courtesy of Searchlight Pictures, used with permission.