"Is it funny?"
Middle-class middle-aged couple Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess (Laura Dern) face the end of their marriage just as Alex accidentally stumbles into an unexpected life as a confessional stand-up comedian at a city bar comedy club. Shot in a naturalistic semi-documentary style, dialogue flows easily and both the city and the marital home become places of curious alienation, and the comedy club scenes are quick-witted and feel low-key authentic. Arnett and Dern smash their roles and have great on-screen chemistry and honesty as the faded couple . With moments of uncomfortable awkwardness, brutal honesty, profound melancholy and introspective loneliness, Is This Thing On? is a mature, thoughtful, intimate, rather sad but very satisfying exploration of navigating and negotiating uncharted territory in a long-standing relationship, delivered with aplomb by two great leads and a confident director.
No comments:
Post a Comment