What's in the name? Plenty, in the case of the new film directed by Bradley Cooper, Is This Thing On? — another loaded, archetypal question. Of course, the phrase is there as a reflexive punchline arriving after the failed punchline of a joke or a comedy routine, but it takes on a more textured meaning here. The questionable twin “things” in the spotlight are a dissolving marriage and an accidental left turn into the world of comedy. It's a complicated, on and off situation.
What is clearly “on” in the film are the performances by and interactions between the leads. Will Arnett, in his finest screen work to date, plays the soon to be ex-partner and suddenly comedy club-fixated Alex, the always strong Laura Dern appears as his exasperated freedom-seeking wife Tess, and, flitting around the fringes, Cooper himself shines as a somewhat sleazy wannabe comic actor.
Marriage on the rocks may qualify as a dime-a-dozen storyline. But here's the twist: Alex, trying to salve his wounds and keep on a brave face in his new bachelor apartment, slips down into the Comedy Cellar and is forced — by fate? — on stage for a five-minute slot. By channeling his personal woes into a droll delivery style, he surprisingly connects with the audience and is fed that dangerously life-enhancing drug: laughter and audience appreciation. He is hooked.