Relationships are hard. No, we understand that’s not very profound, but when we’re invited into the lives of two people who are truly struggling with a relationship that seems to have simply faded, the moments can be uncomfortable, the revelations volatile … and the resolutions very, very hard to achieve.
“Is This Thing On?” started with a valuable premise. It’s based on the real story of John Bishop, a British stand-up comedian who found himself through comedy. As interpreted by director/actor Bradley Cooper and his two leads, Laura Dern and Will Arnett, that story seems, at times, like a documentary view of a family in free-fall. At other times, sprinkled with honest humor, it seems like an homage to Norman Lear’s 1967 film “Divorce American Style.” Whatever the recipe, the result is a film that encourages and pays off one of the oldest philosophical directives, inscribed 2500 years ago on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi … “Know thyself.”
Cooper has distinguished himself as an actor, director and musician. His directorial debut, “A Star is Born” with Lady Gaga won countless awards. Followed by his star turn and directorial expertise in the Leonard Bernstein biographical film “Maestro,” the brilliance of “Is This Thing On?” seems comfortably logical. Cooper understands the shark-infested waters of relationship and is able to bring them to the screen with aplomb. By including his close friends Dern and Arnett, there is comfortable chemistry on screen that carries the storyline forward with ease. All three of them have been through the very human cycle – relationship, marriage, children, struggles, divorce. Experience shows.
If there is such a thing as an amiable divorce, it appears the characters inhabited by Dern and Arnett are headed in that direction. There are rational decisions made, arrangements coordinated, weekends scheduled with their two children, momentary flare-ups, stumbling efforts to discover what “the new normal” might be. The undercurrent of this mostly civilized story is that both principals are accidentally facing the unbending rule of finding themselves.
An intriguing cameo appearance by football legend and inveterate pitchman Peyton Manning is a welcome moment. He’s not passing a football, selling insurance or bantering with his brother on television. He’s a credible actor integral to the dramatic process of finding out the complexity of finding one’s self.
Stand-up comedy and volleyball. Interesting juxtaposition under any circumstances, but as played out in relative secrecy, they become the springboards for self-discovery, self-revelation and …
We won’t ruin the ending of the film. It needs to be seen to be appreciated. Let it be said, instead, that a song being painfully rehearsed by the couple’s two children early in the film ends up underscoring the final scenes and answers the question posed in the title.
“Under Pressure” was released in 1981, a collaboration between David Bowie and Queen that became a classic. Beyond the hypnotic rhythm, the lyric catches that final moment that makes the entire story worth wrapping around like an extra blanket on a cold night spent on a couch.
“Can we give ourselves one more chance?
Why can’t we give love that one more chance?”
photo credit: IMDB