Bradley Cooper’s directing career have all felt about as eager for awards acclaim as anything you’re likely to see. Remaking a Hollywood classic and casting one of the most famous pop stars in the world, and putting together an intensely dramatic biopic of the most famous conductor of the modern era both perhaps reek too much like desperation. Even if the films themselves are deserving of the acclaim they garnered. It’s also a swing to make these movies and cast yourself at the very center of them. It seems wise then, for Bradley Cooper the director to take a step back and work on a smaller scale with a known friend, and also for him to have himself take a more supporting role in front of the camera.

Is This Thing On? is loosely based on the life of UK based stand up comic John Bishop. In the film our protagonist Alex (Will Arnett) is going through a divorce with his wife Tess (Laura Dern) and trying to find meaning in a life that is wholly new to him. He stumbles into a bar on an open mic night, and in order to get out of paying the cover he signs up to do five minutes of stand up so he can get in and grab a beer on a cold night in Manhattan. Finding the experience cathartic, as he speaks to his audience as one might a therapist, he continues to work on his routine of self deprecation.

The beats of the movie are perhaps a little too familiar, even for a low stakes rom com. As the two navigate their divorce in their own way they begin to circle each other with fresh eyes. Tess is attempting to coach Olympic volleyball, having been a star player before the birth of their two ten year old boys. Alex is finding life in the city is to his liking, and making new and interesting friends at the comedy club he takes up a kind of residency in on open mic nights. It’s a film that is equally about searching inside yourself, as it is about searching inside your partner, and your relationship.

There is also the other couple in the movie, Christine (Andra Day) and Balls (Bradley Cooper) who snipe at each other with wild abandon. They seem more doomed than Alex and Tess are, and yet they someone manage to make their marriage work. Bradley Cooper for what it’s worth has all of the humor in the movie, and it makes sense for someone named “Balls” to be the kind of maniac that Cooper brings to life. You’ll find yourself laughing at his antics much more than any of Arnett’s stale stand up. While it makse sense that Arnett is never an amazing stand up comedian, it’s hard to be entertained by the low grumbling of a man torturing himself for letting his marriage fall apart.

There are solid moments of stand up that are not headlined by Will Arnett. Amy Sedaris, Chloe Radcliffe, Reggie Conquest, and Jordan Jensen, all actual stand ups, have minor roles in the film as Arnett’s rag tag group of struggling comedians. A wise move to use the folks actually haunting these open mics to fill these parts in by Director Cooper. And Arnett gets better as the film moves forward, he’s never amazing which is also just smart story telling from Arnett’s script work with co writer Mark Chappell. There is never a moment where it feels like Alex has found a new career so amazing is this middle aged divocee that he ‘s on the path superstardom. No he’s just found something that makes him happy and that gives him the energy to be a better father, partner, and person.

Is This Thing On? feels exactly like the sum of its parts. There’s enough to grab onto, but not so much that you’ll be stunned by the film. It is neither embarrassing defeat or triumphant victory. Much like Alex’s stand up it holds together thematically, but never crests to the point of wowing anyone. And while there’s something interesting about the tepid ground it stands on, it’s still something that will eat up 121 minutes of your time in middling fashion. Do with that what you will.

3/5