"For someone best known as an actor, Bradley Cooper's core interest as a filmmaker is perhaps unsurprising. Thus far, he has been entirely consumed by examinations of performance-first digging into a pop musician's stratospheric career climb in A Star Is Born, then wrestling with Leonard Bernstein's desire to reimagine classical music in . Both movies were hefty pieces of entertainment, filled with love, death, and grand human experiences. His newest, the fetching"
"In some ways, I appreciate the scaled-back approach. Cinemas have been lacking for these kinds of movies of late: stories about grown-ups working through their feelings, navigating interpersonal relationships, and at no point picking up a gun, encountering a demon, or doing battle with a supervillain or serial killer. The tension of Is This Thing On? simply revolves around whether Alex will make some emotional progress while he tells his punch lines,"
Bradley Cooper directs a scaled-down dramedy that centers on performance and the craft of making art. The film follows Alex, a listless middle-aged salaryman who rediscovers himself by performing stand-up at the Comedy Cellar. The story draws loosely on a British performer's true experience and emphasizes how art can invigorate the soul and reveal dark truths. The plot focuses on Alex's emotional progress as a comic and his attempts to repair his rift with his wife, Tess. The film contrasts Cooper's earlier high-stakes musical dramas by trading grand settings for intimate club scenes and quieter human stakes.
Read at The Atlantic
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