Is This Thing On? may seem like a simple comedy and sort of a ‘dude bro’ premise but it’s so much more than that. It’s the sharpest, most life-affirming film of the year with some of the most heartfelt and sincere dialogue.  It’s intimate in scale, just how marriage is, and with the best performance of Will Arnett’s career, a dazzling Laura Dern, and one of the most brilliant scripts of the year, Is This Thing On? is the perfect film to end the year on. 

Director/writer Bradley Cooper’s films have always been about human relationship and the way our passions impact the way we live our lives and treat those around us, Is This Thing On? is no different. The dramedy is all about finding yourself, learning to love yourself and life, and using all of that to have a better relationship with those you love. While his smallest in scale as a director, Is This Thing On? may be Cooper’s best film to date. It’s heartachingly vulnerable without ever being cheesy or a stereotypical examination of what many would call a midlife crisis. 

Is This Thing On? finds the perfect balance of heartbreak, joy, and the flood of other various emotions that come with the feeling of failure with a long-term relationship ending (more specifically, a marriage). It’s not easy to make any life altering decision but leaving a marriage when you have children…. one of the hardest choices anyone can make. What makes this film so incredibly easy to fall in line with its sharp script and wonderfully real characters is that there is no blow up or argument to the separation at its center, the marriage has simply just come to an end, it’s not working for either of them and we are following in the aftermath of this decision between Alex (career best Will Arnett) and Tess (Laura Dern). 

Cooper is such a brilliant director and while Is This Thing On? may be smaller in scope, this directorial effort cements him as one of the most exciting directors working together. His iconic close-up shots continue, especially with Cooper as a camera operator on this one, and it puts you right in the mindset and vulnerability of Alex and Tess. There’s a frenetic energy to the way Cooper and his cinematic partner, Matthew Libatique, move the camera. Accompanied by a brilliant score from James Newberry, this kinetic energy immerses you in the fast pace of New York, the comedy scene and just how volatile break-up emotions feel. In A Star is Bornwe have the heart stopping scene of ‘Shallow’ being performed for the first time and in Maestro, we have the astonishing scene at the cathedral. I saw someone complaining this film doesn’t have a moment like either of those and I completely disagree as the scene in the comedy club with Tess and a potential suitor, played by Peyton Manning (pretty good actor!) is electric and while more intimate in scale, that’s the point. Marriages may feel dull or not exciting to outsiders, but even the spectators in the club can’t believe it. Cooper captures the wide range of emotions from Tess in that moment, with some career defining work from Dern, and it’s one of the best scenes of the year. 

People often only remember the volcanic fight in Marriage Story and not that we spend the entire film building to that moment. While that fight in the Noah Baumbach classic is painfully real for many people, some marriages or long-term relationships simply fizzle out… there’s no screaming match or catalyst, it just gets to a point it’s no longer worth the energy or figuring out. ‘It’s not worth fighting for’ sounds like an irrational reason when you’ve never been there. People talk about finding the spark as a reason to go after a relationship but it’s not a common discussion with what do without the spark ten or twenty years into a relationship. Sometimes, there is nothing there to hash it out for. There’s an idea of when you’re not fighting anymore, sometimes it means the passion and love just aren’t there anymore. Sure, all relationships lose their spark overtime, but there’s a romance in keeping it alive and chasing to retain the passion that brought you together in the first place. Forgetting you’re supposed to be friends with your spouse is such a real thing and it’s so hurtful to feel the loss of them being just your friend. Kids can make things unsexy sure, but couples who love each other will keep the fire burning for each other. It’s easy to dismiss something as unrealistic or too simple when it simply is not your experience. The idea of Alex and Tess having passionate, hot sex when they’re not actually ‘together’ is something you see in so many forms of media but I’ve seen people dismiss it as cheesy in Is This Thing On?, however, I find it insanely realistic. The kids are off with someone else, neither of them are forced to focus their energy on them in the moment. Tess just saw Alex be completely vulnerable about not just his emotions but his feelings about her and their marriage. There are a few moments where Tess opens up to Alex it felt like he wasn’t home, no lights on in their relationship. There is such an exquisite pain to feeling your partner, more specifically your spouse, isn’t invested in the relationship. Sure, we all have a consuming job with substantial responsibilities, dealing with things such as financial stability, the weight of the world, the task of raising children, but the thing is… we all are. Tess was making time to be there for Alex, whether sharing a laugh, a meal, a stupid story, it’s about the act of sharing your time with your partner and being there, in life, with them. It’s consuming to be ‘on’ all the time, we all feel social burnout, but it’s the idea of consistently watching your partner do it for everyone except you. You only ever get the tired, quiet, needing a breather or angry, upset at the day version of your partner. When Tess says, ‘why can’t you talk to me the way you talk to your friends,’ to Alex, I felt that in my soul, as I’m sure many other people who have been with distant partners have. This idea of you never get the passionate person you fell for. Life changes, we all change, but a marriage is a commitment to share a life with a person and that requires an effort. Is This Thing On? perfectly explores both sides of this, from both Alex and Tess. Alex works through his feelings, not in therapy, but his stand-up. Tess, like many logical partners, has had time in her silence over the years to have the vocabulary to communicate not just her feelings with him but her needs. What does she need from Alex to make it work? While at first, they’re having a hot fling, it turns into a reunion because they both learn what they need in life and from each other. In our Q&A at AFI Festival, Arnett says this was all Cooper with the script for the final scene, and my god, you can feel how all of his films connect right here. We’re all searching for something in life and there’s such a beautiful feeling of finding it through art and returning to what originally made you happy with a new energy. “I was unhappy in our marriage. I wasn’t unhappy with our marriage,’ Alex says to Tess. He follows it up with, “I want to be unhappy with you. Let’s be unhappy together.” Marriage is fucking hard, and this final scene embraces the whole point of marriage, for better or worse, richer or poorer (mentally here as they seem to have a lot of financial security…). If marriage was so easy, we wouldn’t still be getting movies like this. Relationships are a lot of work and Is This Thing On? effortlessly embodies that with the right person and the right love and respect for your partner and yourself, it’s worth it. There is no better film about marriage this year. 

Is This Thing On? may seem like a simple comedy and sort of a ‘dude bro’ premise but it’s so much more than that. It’s the sharpest, most life-affirming film of the year with some of the most heartfelt and sincere dialogue.  It’s intimate in scale, just how marriage is, and with the best performance of Arnett’s career, a dazzling Dern, and one of the most brilliant scripts of the year, Is This Thing On? is the perfect film to end the year on. 

Grade: A-

Oscar Prospects:
Likely: Best Adapted Screenplay
Should be Considered: Best Lead Actor (Will Arnett), Best Lead Actress (Laura Dern), Best Film Editing

Release Date: December 19, 2025
Where to Watch: In Theaters