Is This Thing On?

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Is This Thing On?

R

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2h 4m

Comedy

Drama

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Popcornmeter

86%

Tomatometer

181 Reviews

83%

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500+ Verified Ratings

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess (Laura Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family--forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

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Critics Consensus

Mining sly humor from its mature portrait of a failing marriage, Is This Thing On? is another terrific relationship study from Bradley Cooper and an ideal platform for Will Arnett's dramatic chops.

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John Nugent

Empire Magazine

13h

4/5

Essentially “Men will literally do stand-up rather than go to therapy”, in cinematic form. An appealing tragicomedy-drama, told with veracity and heart by Cooper, Arnett and Dern.

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Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

14h

It might not have the awards-bait immediacy of [Bradley Cooper's] first two pictures, but for me this is the work of a director growing in confidence, who no longer feels the need to flex his film-making muscles in every frame.

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Mark Kermode

Kermode and Mayo's Take (YouTube)

15h

The performances are really great.

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Brian Viner

Daily Mail (UK)

10h

2/5

Long before the end, Is This Thing On? had turned me off.

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Dulcie Pearce

The Sun (UK)

13h

2/5

Arnett’s performance is decent and shows him as much more than a brilliant comedy actor. But Cooper has perhaps overstretched himself writing, directing and featuring in this weak adaptation of Bishop’s life story.

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Alistair Harkness

Scotsman

13h

4/5

...the film is pretty funny as it revels in the machinations of the grassroots comedy scene...

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JRD

1d

Fun, funny, thought provoking.

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Tamara

1d

Wil Arnett at the top of his game! Heartfelt, touching and funny. Is This Thing On? Go see it!

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Johnny G

@Gilamonstero 5d

It is a good story and well acted until Bradley Cooper enters any scene. He just drags the movie down and interrupts the flow of what could have been a great movie. I was so looking forward to this as I love standup comedy and that part worked. My date and I had taken a gummy prior to the showing and it definitely helped. In one scene Lara Dern has the line, "I am not a downer. I am not a downer." Then a long pause which I laughed at because at that moment in the movie I was thinking "yeah but this movie sure is." It is worth a watch but I would not see it again. A good editor would have cut all of Cooper’s scenes out of the movie. They felt self serving and distracting to the audience and the flow of the story.

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Sally

Jan 24

It was mediocre, did touch on real life divorce stories, but this one had a happy ending.

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Ricky S

Jan 23

Overall a great movie, have some nitpicks I don’t feel like typing out and ofc it didn’t ruin the movie for me and it went by surprisingly fast for a 2 hour movie

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Krystal

Jan 23

This movie, in my opinion, is a sleeper. I would recommend sleeping in on this movie. Get some comfortable sitting, like a nice reclined seat, eat your popcorn first and then go and take a nice nap and wake up maybe from time to time to see when its over. I definitely do not recommend spending your money on this one.

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Bradley Cooper

Director

Will Arnett

Alex Novak

Laura Dern

Tess Novak

Andra Day

Actor

Bradley Cooper

Actor

Amy Sedaris

Actor

Is This Thing On?: Movie Clip - In Love With Stand-Up

0:53

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Awards Leaderboard: Best Movies of 2025

Will Arnett on Stand-Up Comedy, Is This Thing On?, and Career Reflections

Will Arnett on Stand-Up Comedy, ‘Is This Thing On?,’ and Career Reflections

18:43

Is This Thing On?: Exclusive Featurette - Behind the Mic

3:09

Is This Thing On?: Trailer 1

2:23

Is This Thing On?: Teaser Trailer

2:13

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Synopsis

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess (Laura Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family--forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

Director: Bradley Cooper
Producer: Bradley Cooper, Weston Middleton, Will Arnett, Kris Thykier
Screenwriter: Will Arnett, Mark Chappell, Bradley Cooper
Distributor: Searchlight Pictures
Production Co: Archery Pictures, Lea Pictures
Rating: R (Language Throughout|Some Drug Use|Sexual References)
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jan 9, 2026, Wide
Box Office (Gross USA): $6.0M
Runtime: 2h 4m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Flat (1.66:1)