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Bradley Cooper<\/strong> seems to have avoided a major potential pitfall for his three directorial effort, Is This Thing On?<\/em> The divorce dramedy starring Will Arnett<\/strong> and Laura Dern<\/strong> follows a married couple who decide to separate and the impromptu stand-up comedy sessions that result from the break.<\/p>\n But the stand-up isn’t the point!<\/p>\n More from Gold Derby<\/strong><\/p>\n “Is This Thing On?<\/em> is much more about a relationship than it is about comedy, which is probably a good thing, given how difficult it is to make movies about stand-up,” explains Vulture’s Alison Willmore<\/strong><\/a>. “Fictional comics on screen tend to skew toward being tortured truth-tellers or delusional sociopaths or both, but Alex Novak, played by Will Arnett, is neither.”<\/p>\n Inside, critics who saw Is This Thing On?<\/em> as a part of the New York Film Festival have praised the film for its gentleness and strong lead performances.<\/p>\n “In Cooper\u2019s tenderly observed third feature, Is This Thing On?<\/em>, performance is a rebound reflex, a therapeutic means of working through the end of a marriage and stumbling onto the self-discovery necessary to process what went wrong \u2014 inadvertently realizing that the foundations on which it was built remain intact,” writes The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>‘s David Rooney<\/strong><\/a>. “It\u2019s an unassuming comic drama that sneaks up on you, its emotional honesty fueled by gorgeous performances of unimpeachable naturalness from Will Arnett and Laura Dern.”<\/p>\n A handful of write-ups pay special attention to Arnett, who finds himself in somewhat unfamiliar territory \u2014 as the lead in of a film from a five-time Best Picture nominee like Cooper.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s an observant, bittersweet, and highly watchable movie, yet there\u2019s an inner softness to it, a slightly pandering quality,” writes Variety<\/em>‘s Owen Gleiberman<\/strong><\/a>. “Will Arnett, who has the look and demeanor of a less energized Michael Keaton, is a likable enough actor in a slightly mopey way, but he has done a lot of sitcom work, and it shows. In Is This Thing On?<\/em>, Arnett seems, in essence, to be playing Alex as a sitcom dad \u2014 sharp-tongued yet benign, lost in his daze of self-interest, with an essential quality of harmlessness that\u2019s the opposite of movie-star danger.”<\/p>\n But no everyone was sold on Cooper’s unorthodox approach to shooting, which involved him hoisting the camera onto his own shoulders.<\/p>\n “Cooper, again working with cinematographer Matthew Libatique (who cameos as a comic in the Olive Tree Caf\u00e9), operates the camera himself, which appears to create a less visible illusion of immediacy or intimacy, with the 1.66:1 aspect ratio giving the film the physical dimensions of a European character study,” writes IndieWire’s Ryan Lattanzio<\/strong><\/a>. “The price of Cooper taking the camera into his own hands, no matter how closely he smooshes it onto his actors\u2019 faces, is self-indulgence.”<\/p>\n Is This Thing On?<\/em> opens in theaters Dec. 19.<\/p>\n Best of Gold Derby<\/strong><\/p>\n Sign up for Gold Derby’s Newsletter<\/a>. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a>, and Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n