Alex (Will Arnett) and Tess (Laura Dern) find their marriage unraveling in middle age. In order to find themselves again, they seek their own identities. Alex gravitates towards the New York stand-up comedy scene, and Tess towards coaching volleyball. 

Arguing all the time, Alex and Tess choose to separate and co-parent their children in two homes. Alex finds a new lease of life by throwing himself into something he has never done before. The comedy circuit acts as his version of therapy, where he can process what has happened and be a version of himself he has never been. Tess, conversely, turns to something that she felt she had to sacrifice as a wife and mother. Once an international volleyball player, she has felt lost without the game since her retirement. 

In Bradley Cooper’s third film as director, his obsession with performers continues, but this time he takes a backseat, leaving Will Arnett to show that comedians are extraordinarily good at plumbing the depths of pathos in dramatic roles. But it is not in his examination of stand-up comedy as an art form that provides this film with its most fascinating facet. It is in the idea that couples still need their own individual joy and identity to thrive together as a unit. And it is this, combined with the idea of a second chance at love, that gives the film its emotional core. 

The film works when we are focused on Arnett and Dern. Their emotional journeys are the heart of the piece, and their performances are lovely. Dern is especially good at plumbing both spectrums of emotion that their marriage goes through. You will root for them to find a way. 

Where the film fails is in its secondary characters. Cooper himself plays a perpetually high best friend as a comedy sidekick who just grates, whilst Andra Day is unconvincing as his more driven wife. And then there is the bizarre casting of ex-American football star Peyton Manning in a dramatic role that he is not able to meet the requirements of. Alongside Dern, he seems more wooden than a marionette. 

Cooper’s previous films, A Star is Born and Maestro, were large-scale and filled with big emotion. It is nice to see him trying something smaller here, even if it never quite reaches the emotional heights of his previous works. If only that sparkle between our lead characters found its way to the rest of the cast.