Review of Bradley Cooper and Will Arnett film based on John Bishop's comedy origin story

There can't be many New York open spots triumphantly decompressing after their first gig by reciting Liverpool FC's 'Allez, Allez, Allez’ terrace chant into a toilet mirror.

A tiny incongruity in the highly watchable Is This Thing On?, this moment is one of only a few passing nods that the US film makes to being based on John Bishop's stand-up origin story.

History recounts that the Liverpudlian pharmaceutical salesman sought solace from his failing marriage by wandering into the Frog & Bucket club in Manchester for a drink, before taking to the stage on a whim. His subsequent recovery through stand-up and reconciliation with his estranged wife Melanie has led to television, arena tours and, now this – a loose reimagining of his mid-life crisis on the big screen.

Bishop has a story credit for what is, by some distance, Bradley Cooper's most intimate and least melodramatic portrait of a troubled relationship framed by artistic performance. Following the A-list actor and director's flashier exploration of similar themes in Maestro and A Star Is Born, this is a compelling, credible portrayal of an ailing marriage and a depressed man rediscovering his mojo with self-deprecating routines about dad bods.

Melanie really ought to get a credit too, as the transplanted story is peppered with poignant scenes lifted straight from the Bishops' lives. Irrespective of this, though, British writer Mark Chappell, whose credits include Cold Feet and The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, and star Will Arnett have, with Cooper, crafted a script full of nuance, tenderness and humour.

Although best known as the bombastic, egotistical magician Gob in Arrested Development, twice-divorced Arnett is revelatory here, bringing some of the jadedness that he delivered as BoJack Horseman to the depressed father-of-two and finance guy Alex Novak. The gravel-voiced actor reins in his usual ebullience to play someone beaten into submission by life, his comic instincts only painfully wrenched out of him. The first time we see him, he's silently but visibly imploding, slumped and slack-jawed as he watches an event at his kids' school. 

Matching him with the measured strength of her performance is Laura Dern. As Alex's wife Tess, she's the most rounded and likeable character in the film. Wretchedly but amicably divorcing after 26 years, the pair initially put on a united front for the sake of their ten-year-old sons and circle of friends whose own relationships are in various states of trouble.

After bidding his ex-wife-to-be goodnight following one such dinner party, and having shared a marijuana cookie with her for the hell of it, Alex shuffles into New York City to dejectedly drink, stumbling across the Comedy Cellar in Greenwich Village.

Setting aside his unfamiliarity with the famous club and the artistic licence of it running an open mic night, Alex doesn't have the admission fee, which prompts him, as Bishop did, to put his name down to perform. And when he's quickly called up, dazzled by the stage lights, he can only blurt and mumble through wry memories of his marriage. His manner is stiff, the pauses lengthy. Yet the crowd appreciate the raw vulnerability and he ends on a big laugh. Other comics at the venue sense a kindred spirit and encourage ‘Sad Guy’ to come back.

With Alex and Tess continuing to negotiate living apart and juggling parenting duties, both begin to move on. She was an Olympian volleyballer before motherhood and now wants to get into coaching. Alex sleeps with another act. But the relationship he's really hiding from everyone is his burgeoning love affair with stand-up. 

When Tess's pursuit of a coaching opportunity turns into a date, she finds herself at the Comedy Cellar, and is stunned to see her ex making strangers laugh with stories about their life. Initially bewildered, her face registering a multitude of feelings, she can't leave as the scene develops an understated erotic charge.

Featuring comedians Chloe Radcliffe, Jordan Jensen and Reggie Conquest in supporting roles, plus Amy Sedaris as the Comedy Cellar's booker and Dave Attell and Sam Jay cameoing as themselves, the club scenes are among some of the most convincing and compelling portrayals of stand-up in cinema, admittedly not a sub-genre overburdened with competition.

The descent to the stage, like other long-take, one-shot scenes in the film, affords a visceral immediacy. Tight focus and close-ups of Alex with limited cutaways to the crowds allow Arnett to express plenty in the delivery of a single line, taking you inside his panicking, processing mind. The sound editing convincingly conveys the clutter and random coughs of a busy club. And crucially, you believe that the audiences would find these acts funny. Because they are. 

Alex is no undiscovered genius. There's no agent or television executive swooping in to steer him to fame and fortune. Yet as he steadily improves and grows more assured in his delivery, Arnett's comic chops come increasingly to the fore.

There's no great sense of professional ambition on Alex's part either beyond enjoyment of gigging, no economic jeopardy for his newfound vocation or Tess' revival of her sporting dreams. The Novaks are clearly financially comfortable. They can capably sustain a cosy dinner party and shared vacation lifestyle even as their affection recedes and resurges, ultimately sneaking around on a group holiday like horny teenagers as they rekindle their ardour for each other in secret. 

Cooper gifts himself the comic role of Balls, Alex's feckless actor friend who's in an apparently doomed relationship with Tess' confidant Christine (Andra Day). Arnett's podcast mate Sean Hayes and his real-life husband Scott Icenogle complete the simmeringly tense sextet. More impactful for the film's tone are Ciarán Hinds and Christine Ebersole as Alex's concerned parents, never once taking their son's side over their daughter-in-law's.

With virtually no angry flashpoints and relatively little apportioning of blame, Is This Thing On? is gently heartbreaking, packing a gut punch without trying too hard, eliciting a superb performance from Arnett and typically solid work from the effortlessly natural Dern, as Alex and Tess struggle to rediscover themselves as individuals so they can contemplate reuniting. 

Blossoming into a covert romance and unassuming comic drama that truly sneaks up on you, this lovely and contained picture also speaks to the cathartic nature of performance and airing one's grievances. 

• Is This Thing On? is in cinemas from tomorrow.

Review date: 29 Jan 2026
Reviewed by: Jay Richardson