Bradley Cooper’s 3rd directorial project is neither as heartbreaking as A Star is Born nor as intense as Maestro. But with Will Arnett and Laura Dern in the lead, it strikes an amiable balance between a family separation and oddball comedy. Although Arnett has the chops for outlandish absurd humor from his Arrested Development days, here he’s found a new, less flippant, wiseass persona, that’s captivatingly funny.
The script from Cooper, Arnett and Mark Chappell is loosely based on the experience of British pharmaceutical salesman John Bishop. Although he had no experience, Bishop began performing standup comedy while he was attempting to save his marriage. In this script, Arnett puts his name on a list so he doesn’t have to pay to gain entrance into a crowded bar, not realizing he’s on the bill for an open mike night in front of the crowd.
This was a real challenge for Arnett in a dramatic role. He reportedly got on stage 5 nights a week in various clubs for 6 weeks to get even more comfortable as a standup comic. Cooper and Arnett take the audience into that world by showing real comics Jordan Jensen, Chloe Radcliffe, Reggie Conquest and Dave Attell to not only do some performing, but let us in on what it feels like to put it all out there night after night on the battlefield of comedians vs. crowd. Cooper and his cinematographer, the much celebrated Matthew Libatique, bring us right onto the stage with intimate closeups. You can see the mind working behind those eyes as they spin stories and the reaction in the room.
We did a virtual press conference with Laura Dern, Andra Day and Will Arnett talking about working together on this film.
Alex Novak (Arnett) works in finance in New York City. His 20 year marriage to Tess (Laura Dern) is crumbling, but their split is amicable. He moves out of the house into a comfortable city apartment sharing custody of their nearly 10-year- old Irish Twin sons, Jude (Calvin Knegten) and Felix (Blake Kane), born less than a year apart. There’s a wild party scene for the kids’ birthday creating some funny but uncomfortable moments.
Frankly, Arnett has too much experience behind the mike to make his first attempt at stand up feel like his first. As hard as he tried to “dumb down” the performance, he’s just too comfortable on stage. As Alex progresses, using standup as his personal marriage therapy sessions in front of a bar crowd, his timing and delivery begin to mesh more with Arnett’s acting style. And this is one of the best roles we’ve seen Arnett deliver.
Laura Dern shines from the start. Her Tess is bright, sarcastic, yet sentimental. She gave up being a n Olympic star volleyball player to be a loving Mom. There’s a moment when the whole movie could have gone off the rails. It’s when Tess, by chance, finds herself unknowingly in the audience for one of Alex’ most revelatory standup sets. Rather than going big, showing rage to her date, Dern internalizes her nervous reactions showing excellent range keeping track of her emotions without hamming it up.
What doesn’t work as well was the interpersonal interplay between Alex, Tess and their group of friends. Most egregiously was Alex’ best friend Balls (Bradley Cooper) and his talkative and less than sympathetic wife, Christine (Andra Day). When Balls comes by to talk with Alex, he is awkward chomping on a bagel while advising Alex about his situation. Cooper’ delivers an off-kilter, off-note portrayal of their friendship that needed better direction from Cooper himself.
Arnett leads the way as a lost, almost ex husband finding courage and passion for stand-up, while helping Tess rediscover some for her own sports talent. Cooper does his best work taking us through Alex’s journey of development and self-realization showing the couple’s evolving relationship. Arnett gives a polished performance in Director Cooper’s film. There are not a lot of big laughs, but they fill the bill with grins and knowing nods about life and family with engaging discourse, on stage and off. Yes! This is definitely on.
Searchlight Pictures 2 Hours 4 Minutes R
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