As a director, Bradley Cooper ran the risk of turning incurably pretentious. His filmmaking debut, the 2018 version of "A Star Is Born," hit big with critics and audiences thanks in large part to his and Lady Gaga's excellent performances, but there's a self-seriousness to it that I personally never embraced. "Maestro," Cooper's sophomore feature where he controversially cast himself as Leonard Bernstein, was as blatant awards bait as could be — technically stunning, but trying too hard and often just boring.

If nothing else, Cooper deserves credit for turning off the pretension for "Is This Thing On?" He knows he's not winning awards or making some grand artistic statement with this smaller scale dramedy, shot over just 33 days and edited quickly in time for a premiere at the 2025 New Yo

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