Laura Dern makes people who are trying to stay composed worth watching even when they say little. We rate her highly; the recurring disappointment is how often a supporting part gives her too little to do.
Fi1m perspective
In Is This Thing On? (2025), Laura Dern listens while Arnett's Alex struggles to finish a sentence. As Tess Novak, she has to keep a woman's wants clear in a film more occupied with the man beside her. We rate Dern most highly in this sort of work, where a face tells us what the conversation keeps avoiding. Her quietness moved us: she lets Tess's pent-up feeling become visible without raising her voice. It is a substantial performance in a kind film whose writing is too gentle with its characters.
David Lynch's Blue Velvet (1986) was the breakthrough, followed by their second collaboration, Wild at Heart (1990). Jurassic Park (1993) brought mainstream recognition, but she has kept moving between blockbusters, independent films and television. Enlightened (2011–2013) gave her room to make a difficult character understandable without making her agreeable. We value the unease she brings to the mothers and women in charge who have become familiar assignments.
Bradley Cooper gives her useful surroundings in Is This Thing On?. Matthew Libatique's close, dim photography and production designer Kevin Thompson's lived-in house suit Dern's quiet work. Charlie Greene's editing holds the stand-up pauses instead of hurrying to a laugh; the film allows awkwardness to last. James Newberry's music is less helpful when it stresses feelings Dern has already made clear.
The smaller parts expose the limitation. In Noah Baumbach's Jay Kelly (2025), her Liz has a couple of sharp exchanges with Clooney, then largely disappears. We would happily have spent longer with her, but those exchanges cannot make up for a film that lets its middle drift. Dern can make a brief appearance count; she cannot decide how long it lasts.
The Son (2022), directed by Florian Zeller, is harder going. Dern's Kate and Vanessa Kirby must manage stiff dialogue, which they briefly make sound like things people might say. Their parts do not sustain that relief, and we would not recommend the film for the sake of those repairs. For a fuller sense of what she can do with ordinary conversation, choose Is This Thing On?, allowing for a script that is gentler than it needs to be. Fi1m
Biography
Laura Dern is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles in 1967 to actors Bruce Dern and Diane Ladd, she began her career in the 1980s with early roles in Mask (1985) and David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986).
She is known for her performances in Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequels, Wild at Heart (1990), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), Marriage Story (2019), Little Women (2019) and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). Dern has received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, a Primetime Emmy Award and multiple Golden Globe Awards.
Her recent credits include Kate in The Son (2022), Tess Novak in Is This Thing On? (2025) and Liz in Jay Kelly (2025).
