Is This Thing On: Bradley Cooper’s latest gets a trailer…and Oscar buzz?

Bradley Cooper’s quickly risen to the top of the heap as far as actor-directors go. His A Star is Born remake was the rare blockbuster that also won huge critical acclaim and a slew of Oscar nominations. His follow-up passion project, Maestro, was more of a straight Oscar play, with the biopic of Leonard Bernstein earning him a number of Oscar nominations, but not really being seen by a huge audience (it kind of disappeared into Netflix’s algorithm). Yet, Cooper is certainly not one to rest on his laurels, with him back with a new movie less than two years later, Is This Thing On? This one pairs him with his real-life pal Will Arnett, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Cooper and Mark Chappell. 

This one seems to be aiming for a mainstream vibe, with it being a dramatic comedy starring Will Arnett and Laura Dern as a longtime couple who divorce after many years. To cope, he begins a new life as a stand-up comedian, with the honesty he shows on stage perhaps helping him mend fences with the ex-wife who, despite everything, still loves him. It’s gotten a new trailer (which you can see above) in advance of its December 19th opening in theaters. 

The fact that Searchlight is opening this at Christmas time proves they have real faith in the movie as a potential money maker, and indeed it looks like the kind of heartfelt audience movie we don’t often see in theaters. Cooper himself co-stars in this one, and the movie played to raves at the New York Film Festival, and Searchlight is treating it as their big awards film of the fall, now that their Springsteen biopic, Deliver Me From Nowhere, didn’t really connect the way they hoped.

Here’s the synopsis:

As their marriage quietly unravels, Alex (Will Arnett) faces middle age and an impending divorce, seeking new purpose in the New York comedy scene while Tess (Laura Dern) confronts the sacrifices she made for their family—forcing them to navigate co-parenting, identity, and whether love can take a new form.

Here are some new posters touting the movie’s critical acclaim:

Will you be checking this one out over the holidays? Let us know in the comments. 

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