IS THIS THING ON?

The film opens at a school assembly, where students and parents watch as a Chinese lion dance is performed. While all the other guests watch in awe, Alex Novak (Will Arnett) is slumped in the corner, bored out of his mind.

Alex and his wife Tess (Laura Dern) have been married for over 20 years with two sons, Felix and Jude (Blake Kane and Calvin Knegten). The two have gotten bored with their relationship and have decided it’s time to call it quits. The two go to a dinner party with their couple friends, Christine (Andra Day) and her husband Balls (Bradley Cooper), where they are both high to get through the whole thing.

After splitting up for the night, Alex later goes to the Olive Tree Cafe and is unable to pay the $20 cover charge unless he’s part of the comedy acts performing for the night. Alex signs his name on the list and performs an awkward routine, discussing his failed marriage and impending divorce, which gets a few laughs. Alex nearly leaves when he is done but is encouraged to stick around to support the other comics.

The next day, Alex brings Felix and Jude to the home of his parents Marilyn (Christine Ebersole) and Jan (Ciaran Hinds), where all of them express concern over his split with Tess. Alex returns to doing stand-up comedy and starts to befriend some of the comics.

Alex buys a new van to surprise the boys, which annoys Tess. To take her focus off the marriage, Tess starts to set her sights back on coaching volleyball with the hopes of joining the 2028 Olypmics. Meanwhile, Alex hooks up with another comic, Jill (Jordan Jensen).

Alex and Tess host a birthday party for one of the boys, with Alex even inviting a fellow comic, Nina (Chloe Radcliffe), to come over and perform magic tricks. Alex and Tess quietly start to reconnect.

Tess starts to go out with a guy named Laird (Peyton Manning). He brings her to the Comedy Cellar on a night where Alex happens to be performing. He makes jokes about the failed marriage without realizing Tess is there and listening. After she leaves, Alex freaks out after finding out Tess saw the whole thing. He catches her outside and they confront each other over how quickly they have moved on from the end of their marriage. Eventually, they stop fighting and go back home to have sex.

Alex and Tess join Balls and Christine, plus other friends, for game night. Balls confides to Alex that his and Tess’s separation has inspired him to tell Christine that he wants to end things too since they are confused with each other, while Christine tells Alex that the way he is now reminds her of her past self, which is also making her consider ending things with Balls.

Christine announces in front of their friends how Tess is being offered a position of assistant coach for women’s volleyball in the Olympics. Alex tries to show support of making a big photo of Tess when she played in her younger days, but it upsets her because she thinks Alex fell in love with an idea of her (he refers to the pic as her in her prime). After sleeping together, they argue about not having had each others backs when they were married, before Christine catches them in bed.

Alex storms off and goes to do another comedy set, but it’s just a bitter and angry rant about relationships. After he’s done, he finds that Jan was watching the show. He tells Alex that what he and his mother have is “rare” because they get through their conflicts together. Alex cries in his dad’s arms.

Alex is later visited by Balls, who tells him that he and Christine talked things over and are content with being confused with each other. This inspires Alex to go to Tess and show her a picture of her upset when he bought the minivan, because he loves her as she is. He admits that he was not unhappy with their marriage, but he was unhappy during it and just wants to be unhappy with Tess. She eventually agrees and they finally reconcile.

The film ends as Alex and Tess go to Felix and Jude’s school to watch them perform “Under Pressure” with their friends.