Is This Thing On? review: Bradley Cooper turns John Bishop's life story into sweet but indulgent comedy-drama

Did you hear the one about the lonely husband who went into a bar? That’s the set up for Bradley Cooper’s third film as director, Is This Thing On?, a shaggy-dog movie that feels a world away from his musically-themed, Oscar-nominated earlier directorial efforts, the A Star Is Born remake and Leonard Bernstein biopic Maestro. Those films played out on a grand scale – featuring concerts where the world was watching. Here, the feeling is more intimate. A man on stage, alone, with a mic, pouring his heart out.

Scripted by Cooper, star Will Arnett and British writer Mark Chappell (who penned the delightful murder-mystery from 2022, See How They Run), the film comes loosely inspired by the life of comedian John Bishop. The Scouser stand-up, so the story goes, got into comedy after being at a low-ebb in his personal life. Cooper et al simply transpose this idea to New York. Father-of-two Alex (Arnett) has quietly separated from his wife Tess (Laura Dern), a former volleyball player who gave up her dreams to raise kids.

The couple are still socialising with mutual friends, long-term husband and wife Christine (Andra Day) and Balls (Cooper), and gay newlyweds Stephen (Sean Hayes) and Geoffrey (Scott Icenogle). But they no longer live together, a fact that has spun Alex out. One night, unwilling to go home to his empty apartment, he walks into a bar in the West Village. Rather than pay for the $15 cover charge to get in, he signs up for an open mic stand-up night in the basement downstairs.

At first, it’s excruciating as he stands there, like a rabbit in the headlights. But then he starts talking about his impending divorce, poignant material that gets unexpected laughs. It’s a brave and exposing act, one that offers him a much-needed catharsis, so it’s no surprise when he returns for another bash. Around him are experienced comics (played by real strand-ups, including Chloe Radcliffe), willing to offer him advice and a bit of a roasting because, hey, that’s what they do.

Gradually, as he finds his feet on stage, Alex regains equilibrium, but it’s always going to be a danger, pulling your act from real life. Arnett delivers his lines with a hangdog face that treads a fine line between pain and humour, dialling down the more outlandish comic stylings he’s known for in shows like Arrested Development and even his lead turn in The LEGO Batman Movie. It’s a rare sidestep into drama for the actor, albeit with a syringe-injected shot of comedy, but a pleasing one.

Meanwhile, Dern yet again offers up a very real, fully fleshed-out and classy turn in a film that feels like a more low-key take on Marriage Story, the Noah Baumbach film that won her an Oscar for her shark-like divorce lawyer. Cooper, meanwhile, feels like a distraction in his role, an oafish character who causes mayhem in the very first scene due to his clumsiness. It never quite works as a bit of casting, even if there must’ve been the temptation to self-cast in the way Woody Allen once did.

Certainly, Is This Thing On? feels like an early Allen movie, a rambling, slightly indulgent but nevertheless sweet New York story. With some fine actors fleshing out the cast, including Ciarán Hinds, who plays Alex’s father, it’s a good exercise for Cooper in creating something more low-key, even if it doesn’t quite come off. Still, in the days where adult-skewing dramas are becoming an endangered species in movie theatres, this should be applauded for attempting the subject of divorce with a level head.

Is This Thing On? is released in UK cinemas on Friday 30th January 2026.

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