Failure to Launch

Desperate Parents bring in a girl to win the heart of their “staying-at-home” son in this Comedy.

35-year-old Tripp, played by Matthew McConaughey, is a bachelor with no plans to get married. KamWilliams stated in her review, “That doesn’t bother his parents as much as the fact that the he still lives at home, rent-free, with no interest in cutting the umbilical, despite a successful career as a pleasure craft broker.” Meanwhile his mother, Sue (the great Kathy Bates), is getting tired with waiting on him, and his father, Al (Terry Bradshaw from FOX Sports), is a closet nudist and just wants to be free to walk around the house naked.

It doesn’t help the problem at all that Tripp’s two best friends, Ace (Justin Bartha) and Demo (Bradley Cooper), are adults in a similar situation who share his immature failure to overcome this disinterest. Williams noted, “As members of the so-called Boomerang Generation, they, too, are quite content mooching off their parents for room and board with no intention of ever leaving the nest.”

Fortunately for Sue and Al, help is available in the person of Paula, played by “Sex in the City” star, Sarah Jessica Parker. Williams said, “Paula’s an irresistibly attractive consultant who has carved out her niche by putting her womanly wiles to work coaxing reluctant men out of their childhood homes.” They keep the beautiful girl’s wants to attract Tripp, but with the firm understanding, obviously, that she’ll stop short of sleeping with him. This impossible point of leaving starts “Failure to Launch,” a 2006 silly, well-made romantic comedy which, as Williams described, “unfolds like a cross between Hitch and Meet the Parents.” Given that you’re able to take in this picture’s funny story, you’re likely to enjoy the variety of eccentric tricks up on the screen.

Williams said, “Predictably, Paula’s professionalism goes out the window when she finds herself falling in love with the handsome hunk she’s been hired to date, much to the chagrin of her impatient clients’. However, as this exercise in the obvious winds its way to happily-ever-aftersville, we’re treated to a ton of laughs, most of which come courtesy of a stellar cast of colorful supporting characters.”

Actually, Zooey Deschanel steals so many scenes as Paula’s anti-social roommate, Katherine or “Kit,” that she deserves to share top billing along with McConaughey and Parker. Williams said, “The emerging ingénue adopts a flat affect, delivering line-after-line with perfect timing, playing a blasé misanthrope irreversibly at odds with the entire world.”

For example, here’s how Kit clearly explains her decision to not join her friends at TGI Fridays for Happy Hour: “I don’t like that place, or anybody I work with.” When Paula asks Kit whether she’s interested in either of Tripp’s friends, she caustically responds, “How shall I choose?” after pointing out that one just got fired from Fed Ex Kinko’s while the other is usefully employed.

Williams said, “When not indulging Kit’s sublime sense of humor, Failure to Launch tends to trade in decidedly less cerebral fare, whether it’s Terry Bradshaw romping around in his birthday suit, or an anthropomorphic animal sketch featuring a mockingbird, a dog, a chipmunk, a lizard, or a porpoise.” These brief distractions don’t relinquish your chance to enjoy a completely complicated effort which succeeds at satirizing at an apparent style which threatens to turn into an all-out social experience.

Oh and there’s an emotional love story in there as well.

This is another comedy that I think people will find themselves thoroughly enjoying because it actually is pretty funny. I think we all can say we know someone like Tripp, who is well into his adulthood and still lives at home with no interest in getting married. If not, well you must be fortunate to not know someone like that, but I think everyone can say that they know someone like Tripp. That’s what makes it so funny because of how relatable they make this situation and it works. Don’t skip this one, especially if you’re a fan of any of the actors in this movie.

Alright everyone, look out next week for the finale of “Matthew McConaughey Romantic Comedy Month.”