As their marriage unravels, Alex faces middle age and divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene. Meanwhile, his wife Tess confronts sacrifices made for their family, forcing them to navigate co-parenting and identities.

‘Is This Thing On?’ is directed by Bradley Cooper and follows a man going through a divorce, and a midlife crisis that arguably began before the separation, who turns to stand-up comedy initially as a coping mechanism which then gradually morphs into a potential new career. The film is based on the real-life story of Liverpudlian comic John Bishop, with the setting and details adapted to the U.S. and the New York comedy scene, but the main beats of the story remains the same.

At its heart, this is much more a relationship drama (or perhaps a relationship ending drama) than it is a film about stand-up comedy. Will Arnett and Laura Dern star as Alex and Tess Novak, and both are very good as two people who still love each other, but have fallen out of love, and the film is at its strongest when it focuses on the moments that have led them to gradually apart. The centrepiece of the film is drawn from Bishop’s early career, in which his wife unknowingly attends one of his shows on a date, only to sit through a set largely about their marital problems. It’s brilliantly adapted here, awkward, funny and truthful in equal measure.

The film also strikes a tricky balance in how it presents Alex’s stand-up, and does so successfully. His comedy is neither brilliant nor terrible, which in some ways is harder to pull off than either extreme. As Mark Kermode noted in his review of the film, it recalls Rupert Pupkin in ‘The King of Comedy’, where the joke is that the material is just fine, and that realism serves the story far better than pretending Novak is either a genius out the gate or a total failure.

Cooper’s direction is solid and largely understated, but his decision to cast himself in a supporting role as one of Alex’s friends feels like an unnecessary indulgence. It’s a slightly showy performance that doesn’t sit comfortably alongside the more grounded work elsewhere. Overall, ‘Is This Thing On?’ is a decent relationship drama with a few laughs and two strong central performances, but it never quite pushes beyond that and is ultimately, much like its central characters comedic talents, merely alright.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Bradley Cooper

Starring: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Bradley Cooper, Andra Day, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, Chloe Radcliffe, Jordan Jensen and Ciarán Hinds

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt28083456/