The film premiered as the closing film of the 2025 New York Film Festival on October 10, and it was released in the United States by Searchlight Pictures on December 19. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics for Arnett and Dern's performances and Cooper's direction.
Plot
After many years together, Alex and Tess have reached an amicable end to their marriage, thus beginning the awkward stage of figuring out how to live separately while raising two boys, Felix and Jude, and maintaining their friendships. After they split, Alex finds himself unable to pay the cover at the Olive Tree Cafe, and so puts his name down for the open mic night at the Comedy Cellar. Alex begins to regularly do stand-up and he has a fling with Jill, a fellow comic. Tess returns to her passion of volleyball, specifically looking forward to possibly coaching in the 2028 Summer Olympics, and starts seeing Laird.
One night, Laird takes Tess to the Comedy Cellar, which is coincidentally the same night that Alex performs as a featured act. Outside, Alex and Tess confront each other about moving on quickly, but the two reconcile and have sex later that night.
When Alex and Tess see their friends Balls and Christine, Balls tells Alex that his separation has inspired him to consider the idea of separating from Christine. Meanwhile Christine says that she has been looking down on Alex due to him reminding her of her past self, and his withering away has also led to herself reconsidering her marriage to Balls.
Tess then receives news of an offer to be the women’s volleyball team’s assistant coach for the upcoming Olympics. Tess is upset however when she hears about Alex hanging a photo of her as an athlete at his apartment, as she later brings up during an argument that it makes it look like Alex was only in love with an idea of her. The two than accuse each other of not having each others back during their relationship, leading to Alex’s next stand up routine to be a bitter rant about relationships, where Alex’s dad Jan is in attendance. He tells his son that his thinking is dangerous and that two people in a relationship need to rub against each other.
Balls visits Alex the next morning and says that he has talked things out with Christine, saying that they are okay with being confused with each other. Alex then shows up at Tess’s door, saying that he was not unhappy with their relationship, but rather unhappy during their relationship and that he wants to be unhappy with Tess. The two then show up to Felix and Jude’s school performance of “Under Pressure” and Alex and Tess kiss.
Gabe Fazio as Gabe the Bouncer, who works at the Olive Tree Cafe
Blake Kane as Felix, Alex and Tess’ son, Jude’s brother
Calvin Knegten as Jude, Alex and Tess’ son, Felix’s brother
Production
It was announced in June 2023 that Bradley Cooper would be directing a film, which he would star in alongside Will Arnett. Arnett would co-write the screenplay alongside Mark Chappell.[5]Emily Blunt was reported as being part of the cast later that month.[6] In December 2024, Sean Hayes joined the cast.[7] In February 2025, Cooper announced Laura Dern and Andra Day as part of the cast, in addition to announcing he would also serve as the B camera operator for the film.[8][9] Filming wrapped in April, with additional casting announced including Amy Sedaris, Peyton Manning, Christine Ebersole, and Ciarán Hinds.[10]
Is This Thing On? had its world premiere as the closing film of the New York Film Festival on October 10, 2025,[14] and it was released in the United States on December 19, 2025.[15]
Reception
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 86% of 125 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "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."[16]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[17]
Cooper's direction was praised.[18][19] In The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney wrote that Cooper's "unassuming" direction helped ground the film's emotional connection to the New York setting and imbued it with "a sweetness that’s never cloying, a generosity of spirit that’s never unearned".[19]Close-up scenes in which Arnett is filmed performing his stand-up routines were emphasized by both Rooney and Tim Grierson from Screen International as moments where Cooper deftly amplified the film's intimacy in collaboration with Matthew Libatique's cinematography.[18][19]
Arnett and Dern's performances were also well-received.[20][21] Reviewers including Alison Willmore and Adrian Horton found Arnett to be well cast, bringing a necessary self-deprecation and dry humor from past comic experience that augmented his credibility in the role and endeared audiences to connect with his character's journey.[20][21] Siddhant Adlakha from Observer joined them in praising Dern for her chemistry with Arnett and her vulnerability, established within a mix of meditative introspections and spirited emotions, that served to heighten the "sometimes barbed and sometimes witty, always charged" mutual dynamic between the two characters.[20][21][22]
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