Why do I find Bradley Cooper endearing and Timothée Chalamet insufferable? Although Chalamet’s career so far more closely resembles that of Tom Cruise, he shares with Cooper a level of artistic ambition and intelligence not found in all actors, along with an overwhelming desperation to be liked and “recognized.” After a decade of television and supporting roles, Cooper broke big with 2009’s The Hangover, and within three years he was the new Golden Boy, going supernova at the same time (and in the same movies) as Jennifer Lawrence. I hated Silver Linings Playbook, but not because of Cooper or Lawrence. I go to the movies a lot, so I’m used to having my intelligence insulted, but the quirked-up bipolar dramedy drove me crazy, along with The Hunger Games and Zero Dark Thirty—all in the same year! 2012 remains the worst movie year in my lifetime; it’s no coincidence that Kodak filed for bankruptcy 14 years ago today, effectively ending mass photochemical film production and projection. You’re not crazy: they really “don’t make ‘em like they used to.”
But strivers remain. Nearly 20 years after he “made it,” Cooper has become part of the Hollywood Firmament; barring any gonzo scandal, he’ll be famous for the rest of his life. Rather than coast and get political like George Clooney (who, as my friend Bennington Quibbits pointed out, only has three box office hits to his name), Cooper believes in cinema and wants to make great movies. Chalamet has good enough taste, but he’s still in the thick of the supernova phase, so he hasn’t been able to relax or experiment yet. We don’t really know him. The second half of Cooper’s career is clearer: Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Paul Newman, actors who began as sensations and grew into reliable directors of the ever elusive “movie for adults.” Newman showed far more eccentricity as a director than in his acting, and it’s his overlooked directorial career (five movies) that Cooper’s most resembles so far.
His new film, Is This Thing On?, follows Alex (Will Arnett) as he deals with the final stages of his divorce from Tess (Laura Dern); stoned on a pot cookie, he staggers into the Comedy Cellar and does his two-and-a-half minutes. He gets some laughs talking plainly about his marriage and his divorce, and ends gracefully with, “Okay, I think I earned my keep here, thanks a lot.” He walks off to encouraging applause, and he continues doing stand-up, without ever fully leaving his family’s orbit. When Alex tells his friend Balls (Cooper) what he’s been doing, the guy doesn’t get it. Alex reassures him: “It’s not like I’m going to go on tour or anything.” It’s similarly reasonable and copacetic between Alex and Tess, who are never on bad terms and quickly start sleeping together again. No one dies, no one gets sick, no one remarries and there are no shouting matches. Is This Thing On? is free of melodrama; it’s a film of life, however “uneventful” and even-keeled it may be.
Is This Thing On? most resembles the films of Robert Mulligan, Alan J. Pakula, and Robert Benton: serious, but not self-consciously “arty,” and, crucially, not a downer or full of false cheer. I bet Hal Ashby is Cooper’s North Star: someone who worked in a variety of genres and continued making serious work without ever becoming (too) self-serious. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique, on the other hand, only manages a passing grade, three whiffs in a row. Highest 2 Lowest, Caught Stealing, and Is This Thing On? were all shot digitally, with hideous flashes of high frame rates. Fortunately, in Is This Thing On?, he only uses 60fps once. The movie looks fine—the unobtrusive handheld camerawork is consonant with material more measured and nuanced than you normally see in contemporary American movies. But it still doesn’t look as good as Josie and the Pussycats.
Is This Thing On? Isn’t a masterpiece, nor is it something that Cooper worked on for half a decade like Maestro. The release has been muted, and although Dern may get a token Best Supporting Actress nomination, this movie likely won’t win any awards. But, unlike so many others, it wasn’t made with awards in mind. Is This Thing On? should be 25 minutes shorter, but it distinguishes itself in its humility and its recognition that this type of movie REALLY isn’t made anymore with A-list actors. Cooper knows he’s not changing the world, just earning his keep. The jury’s out on Chalamet, but by now, I know Cooper’s for real.
—Follow Nicky Otis Smith on Twitter: @NickyOtisSmith