"Super-early programmer screenings can be a disorienting privilege; there's something about the cone-of-silence vacuum in which they take place that can mess with your perceptions, in ways that prerelease press screenings don't. Will the audience go for this? Does it matter, so long as we do? I saw Is This Thing On? in an empty screening room and found myself utterly charmed-and wondered, over the three quiet months or so until its premiere, if others would feel remotely the same way."
"I rewatched the film at that premiere, this time, of course, with an audience, and fell hard for it all over again. I love Will Arnett's self-effacing sad-boy act and Laura Dern's good-humored exasperation and the balance of grit and gloss in the filmmaking, the way Cooper's canny showbiz instincts meld so fluidly with his lived-in, observational insights. I love the kids, and I knew the damn thing was working when,"
Is This Thing On? played as a New York Film Festival closing-night selection after early programmer screenings produced a cone-of-silence environment that complicated first impressions. The film is a sweet, funny, insistently optimistic crowd-pleaser centered on love, laughter, and self-care. Performances include Will Arnett's self-effacing sad-boy act and Laura Dern's good-humored exasperation, supported by strong work from the children. Bradley Cooper melds canny showbiz instincts with lived-in observational direction, casts himself in a comic role, and delivers a polished film that earns genuine emotional payoff without relying on obvious needle-drop tricks.
Read at Slate Magazine
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