JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
A man who's never done stand-up before walks into a comedy club. Sounds like the setup for a joke, right? Well, critic Bob Mondello says it's actually the setup for a movie directed by Bradley Cooper about a marriage. It's called "Is This Thing On?"
BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE: Twenty-six years together, if you count the time they were dating...
(SOUNDBITE OF TOOTHBRUSHING)
MONDELLO: ...Yet Alex and Tess more or less dissolved their marriage one night while brushing their teeth.
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LAURA DERN: (As Tess) We need to call it. Right?
WILL ARNETT: (As Alex) I think so, too.
MONDELLO: Their sons are in the bedroom down the hall.
(SOUNDBITE OF TOOTHBRUSHING)
MONDELLO: Nobody makes a fuss. Alex, played by Will Arnett, takes an apartment downtown, but he and Laura Dern's Tess still hang out together with friends on weekends. One time, on the way home, he drifts by a comedy club.
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GABE FAZIO: (As Gabe The Bouncer) 'Sup?
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) I want to come and get a drink.
FAZIO: (As Gabe The Bouncer) Yeah, 15 buck cover.
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) To get a drink?
FAZIO: (As Gabe The Bouncer) It's a comedy.
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) Look, man, I don't have any money on me. It's just...
FAZIO: (As Gabe The Bouncer) Yeah. Man, I don't know what to tell you.
MONDELLO: But then the bouncer passes a woman through...
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FAZIO: (As Gabe The Bouncer) Good luck.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #1: (As character) Thank you.
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) How come she didn't have to pay 15 bucks?
FAZIO: (As Gabe The Bouncer) She put her name down.
MONDELLO: ...To perform. So Alex puts his name down, and before he knows it...
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AMY SEDARIS: (As Kemp) Alex Novak, everybody.
(APPLAUSE)
MONDELLO: ...He's on stage without an act.
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ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) Um, I don't have a ton of jokes.
MONDELLO: But he has plenty on his mind, so he just starts talking.
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ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) I think I'm getting a divorce. What tipped me off was that I'm living in an apartment on my own. And my wife and kids don't live there.
(LAUGHTER)
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) That was probably the biggest clue.
MONDELLO: He gets a few laughs, and something clicks for him. Meanwhile, Tess, who was once a volleyball star, is reconnecting with that in ways she hadn't for years.
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DERN: (As Tess Novak) I've been missing it every single day since I retired. I knew coaching would be a great way back in.
MONDELLO: Though Arnett's sad sack comedy club bits are the movie's hook, Dern's midlife striver is a great counter for him - in many ways, the hopeful heart of a film that's based on the real experience of a British comedian and his wife. Bradley Cooper's warmly observant dramedy ticks through lots of challenges, the misconceptions of family...
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CIARAN HINDS: (As Jan) You tell jokes?
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) More like funny stories about my life.
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE: (As Marilyn) Oh, honey...
HINDS: (As Jan) What's so funny about your life?
EBERSOLE: (As Marilyn) ...I had no idea your life was so bad.
MONDELLO: ...The well-meaning meddling of friends. Cooper steps in front of the camera to steal a few scenes as the couple's self-absorbed actor pal...
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BRADLEY COOPER: (As Felix) Hey, I found him.
MONDELLO: ...Who can't get out of his own way.
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UNDENTIFIED ACTORS: (As characters) Oh.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #2: (As character) Oh, my God. Are you OK?
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) Jesus.
DERN: (As Tess Novak) Just don't cry over spilled oat milk, OK?
MONDELLO: And some of the most affecting scenes involve the couple's 10-year-old boys who are upset to find their names in a jokes notebook Alex keeps by his bed.
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ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) You can ask me anything, and I'll tell you the truth, OK?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR #3: (As son) OK. But it's weird, Dad.
MONDELLO: Bradley Cooper may not have set out to make a trilogy that looks at the marriages of performers, but the three films he's directed certainly qualify. First, "A Star Is Born," where he and Lady Gaga played a showbiz couple with one skyrocketing, the other in free fall. Then, "Maestro," his Leonard Bernstein biopic about the stresses the composer/conductor's private life put on his marriage. And now, "Is This Thing On?" with its intimate portrait of a couple trying to recalibrate their relationship, both out of sight and very much in public.
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ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) I came home one day, um, and my - I guess still wife - but Tess was her name. Her name is still Tess.
(LAUGHTER)
ARNETT: (As Alex Novak) I plan on letting her keep that in the divorce.
(LAUGHTER)
MONDELLO: New York comedy scene regulars surround Arnett as his comedian buddies. And frankly, everything Cooper has done here has an improv-like feel - warm and funny and recognizable, which allows "Is This Thing On?" to amble around and sneak up on you like a great punch line. I'm Bob Mondello.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLXST SONG, "PASSIONATE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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