Lede
A gentle divorce comedy that uses open-mic stand-up as first aid, then quietly admits your living room does the job better than most cinemas.
Hermit Off Script
I went to this movie and it basically slapped one thought into my head: most films on a normal cinema screen look better on my Hisense 75-inch at home. That is the uncomfortable truth. If it is not IMAX, it is rarely worth it purely for the viewing experience. The only real reasons left are the social ones – a date, a laugh with a mate, a family outing, the ritual of getting out of the house. Otherwise, it is just my living room, but louder, stickier, and with someone two rows back auditioning for a cough soundtrack. And of course it is Bradley Cooper, making a film about stand-up comedy, because life is basically a roast waiting to happen and we are all one bad week away from calling it material. The Cineworld Unlimited defence is that it makes these punts okish – I can test the waters without feeling like I’ve paid for my own disappointment. At home I would have skipped it until a night when there is literally nothing left to watch and I start negotiating with the remote. Then the film quietly pokes the bigger question: do I start doing stand-up because of loneliness? And then I remembered, I’m already doing roasts on TheModernHermit.blog, so what is the difference – a microphone and a two-drink minimum?
Also, bloody hell, if my brain starts begging for Queen and David Bowie – “Under Pressure”, I want the real thing, not the ghost of it.P.S. With Cineworld Unlimited it is okish as a low-stakes punt, so I do not feel mugged by the ticket price. But if it is not IMAX and I am going purely for the film, the sofa is still the premium seat.
IS THIS THING ON? | Official Trailer | Searchlight Pictures
Is This Thing On? (2025) | Movie synopsis roast
Alex and Tess are a long-married couple who try to end things without turning it into a war. They are not monsters, just tired humans with years of history, a child, and a quiet grief they do not know how to name. When the marriage starts to unravel, Alex drifts into the stand-up scene and finds a strange kind of relief in the ritual of telling the truth into a microphone. Tess faces the harder work: what happens to a life when the role you built your days around suddenly stops making sense.
The film is warm and humane, the kind that prefers wince-smiles over big punchlines. It gently teases the idea that open-mic nights can cure loneliness and divorce, like comedy is a plaster you slap on the heart so you can make it through the week. The best compliment is also the mildest roast: it is exactly the sort of story that hits hardest in a quiet room, and if your home setup is strong, the sofa might be the real premium seat.
Cast and credits
Director: Bradley Cooper
Writers: Bradley Cooper, Will Arnett, Mark Chappell (story credit includes John Bishop)
Genre: Comedy-drama
Main cast: Will Arnett, Laura Dern, Andra Day, Bradley Cooper, Amy Sedaris, Sean Hayes, Christine Ebersole, Ciaran Hinds
Composer: James Newberry
Production company/studio: Lea Pictures, Archery Pictures (distributed by Searchlight Pictures)
Runtime: 121 minutes
Release year and platform: 2025 theatrical release (US 19 December 2025); home release reported as digital on 10 February 2026
What does not make sense
- A story about emotional honesty delivered like a polite open-mic set that is afraid of its own silence.
- Selling “stand-up as therapy” while the real therapy is admitting you are lonely without turning it into content.
- Watching a small, intimate divorce film on a big screen, then realising the big screen is not even the best screen you own.
- Paying cinema money for a movie that basically asks to be watched at home, with a kettle on.
- The title asks “Is this thing on?” and the honest answer is: the subscription is on, the spark is sometimes not.
Sense check / The numbers
- The film premiered at the New York Film Festival on 10 October 2025 and had a US release date of 19 December 2025, with a listed running time of 121 minutes. [Wikipedia]
- Reported box office is $11 million, which is roughly the financial sound of a modest drama clearing its throat. [Wikipedia]
- Rotten Tomatoes shows 86 per cent positive reviews from 185 critics, and Metacritic lists a score of 72 out of 100. [Wikipedia]
- It was reported to arrive on digital on 10 February 2026, with Blu-ray and DVD on 17 March 2026. [People]
- “Under Pressure” (the real one) was released in the UK on 2 November 1981, runs 4:08, and hit number 1 on the UK Singles Chart. [Wikipedia]
The sketch
Scene 1: “Open Mic, Closed Wallet”
Panel: A man in a cinema seat stares at a normal-sized screen, while a 75-inch TV at home glows in his imagination like a shrine.
Dialogue: “Is this thing on?”
Dialogue: “Yes. Unfortunately, it is not IMAX.”
Scene 2: “Divorce, But Make It Content”
Panel: A couple sits at a kitchen table, lawyers replaced by a comedy club sign that reads “Healing Tonight”.
Dialogue: “We need space.”
Dialogue: “Great, I will turn it into a set.”
Scene 3: “Under Pressure (Budget Edition)”
Panel: A giant speaker labelled “Iconic Song” is padlocked, while a cheaper speaker labelled “Close Enough” wheezes beside it.
Dialogue: “Can we have the real track?”
Dialogue: “We have emotional growth at home.”
What to watch, not the show
- Subscription economics that rewards “why not” viewing more than “must see” cinema.
- Cinemas coasting on habit while home screens get bigger, sharper, and cleaner.
- Loneliness being repackaged as an entertaining arc instead of a solvable human condition.
- Pop-culture needle-drops as emotional shortcuts, because silence does not trend.
- The modern reflex to convert pain into performance before we even feel it.
The Hermit take
Stand-up will not fix a divorce, but it will sell a ticket.
If it’s not IMAX, Unlimited makes it forgivable, but not better than home.
Keep or toss
Keep the mature idea of two adults trying to re-map love. Keep Cineworld Unlimited for low-stakes punts.
Toss the idea that a non-IMAX screen beats the sofa.
Sources
- IMDb listing for “Is This Thing On?”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt28083456/
- Wikipedia film overview and figures: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Is_This_Thing_On%3F
- People home release dates report (5 February 2026): https://people.com/here-s-when-bradley-cooper-s-is-this-thing-on-will-be-available-to-watch-at-home-exclusive-11899280
- Rotten Tomatoes page and consensus: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/is_this_thing_on
- Wikipedia entry for “Under Pressure”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_Pressure
- Queen and David Bowie “Under Pressure” video link provided: https://youtu.be/a01QQZyl-_I?si=9EiLY-f9ImzBIipO
