Film Review: Is This Thing On? (2025) and Learning to Have More Fun

Is This Thing On? (2025) 

Starring: Will Arnett, Bradley Cooper, Laura Dern, Andra Day

Rating: 4/5

Summary: When Alex and Tess decide to separate, the two struggle with navigating how to start over. Alex picks up stand-up as a new hobby, while Tess reflects on her own identity as both a mother and wife. 

My Thoughts: If there was anything to take away from this film, it's the fact that adults (especially grown men) need hobbies. As I'm writing this, I'm looking at my planner, and there's the phrase "Life doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful" stamped onto the page. This is sort of the thesis of this movie. We're so often chasing so many BIG things in our lives (i.e., productivity, goals, milestones, etc), promotion, or that we often forget to appreciate the good things that we already have. In Alex's case, it's his wife and loving who she is as a person. In Tess's case, it's her own interests and the life she has outside of her relationship and her children. For both of them, it's learning to meet each other where they're at - instead of forcing them to be somewhere else emotionally.

When I first watched this movie, I was worried that the "washed-up, white man" trope would bore me. However, the film saves itself by bouncing between both Tess and Alex. They both struggle...a lot. They also struggle in different ways. Although Alex is naturally a good stand-up comedian, he still feels lost. He can't even talk about his new hobby without feeling shame for it. Tess wants to return to volleyball, but worries that it won't actually make her happy. She has a conversation with one of her friends about not seeking out hobbies simply because you're good at them that I find very poignant. I, too, often wonder if I do things because I am good at them, rather than if they actually make me happy. I would have liked to see more of Tess figuring that out in the way that we see Alex do. There are many scenes of Alex doing stand-up. We, as viewers, are invested in the world of comedy, just as Alex is. The other comedians are great side characters. The bars he visits feel authentic and alive in a way that Alex's home life does not, which is why he finds himself drawn to comedy. The challenge he finds himself in is to figure out how to connect those dots and find a healthy way to find space for both comedy and his life at home with his family. 

 

What is also great about this movie is that Alex is not a bad father or person. He's not neglectful of his children. He's neglected his wife, but he's not abusive or rude to Tess. He's just a depressed little dude. This film could have made Alex a terrible person who does terrible things, but redeems himself through his comedy and being a better husband. This film could have made Tess an annoying, bitter woman who resents his husband for not being more attentive. These are the expectations I initially had, but this is a much better film. It allows both Alex and Tess the space to be messy, but ultimately grow in ways that do not cause irreparable harm to one another. They're hurt and angry, but they still love each other, and their relationship is far from emotionally abusive or toxic. They're just two people who fell out of sync.

 

Personally, I am also learning to find more hobbies and to be more mindful of all the time I spend focusing on productivity and milestones, but it is damn hard. So much of what I see online, and even when I talk to my friends, is about productivity. I know I am almost 30, so that is much of it based on societal norms of where people are supposed to be in their lives at a certain age. However, I am learning to listen to my intuition and let that lead me, even when it comes to minor decisions, (especially when it comes to minor decisions) like starting this blog again, spending a few hours playing computer games from my childhood, or having sleepovers with friends where we craft and talk about nothing. I just want to have fun again, and this movie reminded me that I need to start saying "Fuck it" and having more fun.

A Return to Form #1: Thoughts on "The Traitors", "Hunting Party", and "People We Meet on Vacation."

Hello there! 

I did have different expectations for my next blog post, but, as usual, I got intimidated and drafted it. I wasn't sure what to call this, so I'll keep it simple and post about what I've been watching this week. Last week's post reintroduced this space as a platform to discuss my interests, and as this title suggests, I am now focusing on TV. When I first started this blog, I did weekly recaps of shows like Pretty Little Liars and American Horror Story. I also wrote about my thoughts on Taylor Swift appearing on New Girl and did a character analysis on all of the girls on HBO's Girls. I am currently in grad school and work full-time, so I think I will be returning to that format. However, I do feel pretty good about hopping on a few times a month to chat about a few things that don't require regular posts.

A Reintroduction

Time flies when you're having fun, or whatever it is that I have been doing since my last post on this webpage. However, one of my New Year's resolutions was to restart my blog. Unfortunately for you, many of my old posts have been archived, so you are not able to read the unhinged ramblings from the teenager who started this blog. Fortunately for me, I had such a fun time reading my unhinged ramblings to the point that I was inspired to grab my keyboard, step up to the plate, type away on my keyboard, and hit "Publish."

When I was a teenager, I was quite literally using this blog as an outlet to talk about television, movies, and books. It started off as a book blog, but once I entered high school and reading became required, I pivoted to movies. Bloggers in 2011 always had a sign-off, and mine was, "Happy Reading!" When movies and television became my special interest, that sign-off shifted to "Happy Movie Watching" or even "Signing Off" or "See you Next Time." Something about seeing how happy I was to send my words out into the digital void really touched me. I didn't care if one person saw it or if 50 people read what I wrote. I was just happy to write and talk about the things that I loved. This blog is what made me want to become a writer. I don't get paid to write. Hell, sometimes I wonder if I actually even enjoy it if there's no one reading what I have to say, but I've been getting in the mood to write. I've been getting into such a mood about writing that I get a headache if I don't at least attempt to write something down. 

And so, I write, even though something about doing this makes me feel annoying. 

Perhaps I want to be different by not posting on Substack, as this was once a safe space for me.

Maybe I actually want to stick to something consistently for once in my life, like I did when I was 13 and bored.

And so, I write, even if I am a little bit of all of those things...or even if there are mistakes...or if no one reads this at all.

am i sober now?

 

 
I had a conversation with a friend of mine this morning that has been sitting with me all day. we talked about my big move to chicago and what that's going to look like: the people i'm going to meet, the places i'm going to go and the things i'm going to do. i've talked about it before, but although i know that moving doesn't make me a new person, i can't help but feel like does. i feel a shift in my energy when i think about my new home, like a bubbliness that feels like glitter has exploded in my abdomen. it feels like i'm going on first date with someone i've been talking to for months and i'm at the point where i'm counting down the days until its time. and see, i'm the planner of my friend group, so figuring things out is kind of "my thing". i'm the person who is writing up an itinerary for a three-day trip. i'm the person with a list of places to go broken down by cost, each person's interest, and how relatively close they are to other things we can do. i'm the person who always knows what is going on for the week, who's going to be there, and what the vibes are. or moreover, i'm the person who can always find this information out relatively quickly, so people usually look to me to figure out what they wanna do. 

  

so, you're thinking about quitting your job.

i've only ever quit a job once in my entire life. i've worked at so many places and done so many things, but i've never really actively sat down with my employer and had a serious conversation saying,  "i'm leaving. here is my two weeks notice." this is partly due to my fear of confrontation. this is also partly. due to my fear of disappointing authority figures. however, this is mostly because i never really had a job where people depended on me specifically. they needed someone to just be there. so when i left for college and the place i had been at for years never heard back from me, or when i graduated and could not longer be the "student receptionist", they simply got someone else to fill my shoes. the one exception to that is this time i actually did quit my job as a server at a local pizza restaurant. i don't even think i stayed the two weeks because i'd initially requested the next two weeks off before i quit, so essentially, i just kind of up and left that joint and didn't look back.

these are there stories: promising young woman and its case for rape-revenge films

CONTENT WARNING: now, before i begin this post, i am going to let you know that there is a bit of talk of a few heavy topics including, rape and sexual assault. if you're not into all of that, please stray away from this post. otherwise, read on.

watching promising young woman took me back to early film theory classes. in one, we watched i spit on your grave (yes, the 1978 version; yes, a man taught the class). while this wasn't the first time i had seen the film, it was the first time that i was allowed to openly have a discussion about the film without someone blinking wildly and going, "HUH?"