Following the big swings of his first two directorial efforts, A Star Is Born and Maestro, Bradley Cooper dials it back and loosens up with Is This Thing On?, an amusing drama about a husband and wife at a mid-life crossroads.

In place of his past work’s virtuosic showiness, the writer/director (leaving the musical world behind) opts for character-focused intimacy, his latest less interested in grand gestures than in the minute details that bring people together and tear them apart.

His relaxed approach goes a long way toward making the film an endearing snapshot of the thorny ties that bind. So too does Will Arnett, who in his maiden big-screen headlining turn delivers a soulful performance that exists at the intersection of humor and pain—and, alongside an excellent Laura Dern, eleva

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