Failure to Launch

Totally formulaic and with such an outrageous premise that it's almost impossible to take seriously, Failure to Launch is mostly saved by the charisma of its all star cast, particularly the attractive supporting players who garner most of the film's few laughs. It's a movie that constantly hovers around sit-com territory, even though somewhere in the depths of its mediocrity it presents a very real and disturbing issue the phenomenon of thirty something males, or "boy men" who still like to live at home with their parents

Mathew McConaughey is Trip, a commitment-phobic 35-year-old whose "failure to launch" means he's still living with his parents in their tidy suburban home, enjoying Mom's egg and pancake breakfasts whilst she contentedly does his washing and tidies his room. Trip is a charming all round nice guy, who sells luxury yachts for a living, but he's also spoilt and somewhat sheltered and he can't keep a girlfriend because they freak out every time he brings them home to meet the parents.

Apparently there exists a profession for women whose job it is to inveigle and seduce these adolescent male adults from the nest yes it's really true! Sarah Jessica Parker plays Paula, one such "consultant," who fell into the profession a few years earlier when she failed to disentangle herself from a beau from his mom and dad's house. Paula's been hired by Trip's parents a capricious Kathy Bates and a laidback Terry Bradshaw to seduce Trip on the assumption his newborn passion will motivate him to grow up and leave home.

No surprises here it's boy meets girl and accidentally fall in love, boy and girl have a misunderstanding and then eventually come together again. And I'm still not sure whether Trip ever actually moved out of home maybe he ended up buying the boat! McConaughey and Parker have a great deal of chemistry together, and Parker is always fun to watch, but they are constantly left high and dry with thanklessly predictable scenes.

Zooey Deschanel is, as usual, a standout as Paula's sardonic, possibly manic-depressive roommate, her brand of humor is impossibly dry and she turns the character into a wonderful comic foil. Tripp's only friends, Ace (Justin Bartha) and Demo (Bradley Cooper), also are stay-at-homers and provide some welcome eye candy to the proceedings, especially up-and-coming actor Bradley Cooper. Failure to Launch is pretty much a movie of comic stupidity and distractions, basically aiming for the lowest common denominator in entertainment.

Along with a bunch of stupid but admittedly cute pet tricks, the characters play paintball games, go sailing and then rock climbing, they eat lunch in fish restaurants and have silly, petty arguments there's a real sense of desperation with the writers here anything to build a false sense of forward thrust into a story that is predictably dead on arrival. Mike Leonard July 06.

A light and watchable romantic comedy as it should be. What's new is the parents' desire for the 35-year old son Tripp(Matthew Maconaughey)to leave home and be independent. And when he does, the parents can enjoy or dread their new found freedom.

What impresses me are the cameo appearances of a squirrel, a mocking bird, a lizard and lastly, the dolphins. The irony that those adorable sweet creatures can give one the shock in a lifetime is hillariously presented here. Zooey Deschanel as Kit is also a delightful and refreshing choice as a cool, slightly eccentric pal. They all make the otherwise formulaic romantic comedy interesting.

A happy ending with Tripp and Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) sailing on a wooden boat is truly to be envied.

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I think most people will agree that what makes a romantic comedy work is chemistry. And if there's zero chemistry between the romantic leads, then be sure to have People's Sexiest Man Alive 2005 shirtless in the first scene of the movie.

The producers got one of the above right.

"Failure to Launch" is a simple tale about Tripp's (Matthew McConaghey) parents hiring a motivator, Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get him to move out of their house. The Swiss cheese plot doesn't make much sense and the actors don't help matters.

As much as I like SJP from her "Sex and the City" days, I found her to be flat and uninteresting and frankly, too old-looking for Matthew McConaghey.

The talents of Kathy Bates (Tripp's mother) are completely wasted. And I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Terry Bradshaw's (Tripp's father) rather befuddling nude scene as he was, ahem, cleaning out a fish tank. My eyes!

Zooey Deschanel as Paula's roommate Kit is the comic relief of this dim, jumbled movie. In one rather strange scene, she and her new boyfriend deliver CPR to a mockingbird. Not even her moody comments and antics could save this story though.

I love romantic comedies. And I genuinely like most of the past work of both SJP and Matthew McConaghey. But don't waste your time with this film. It's only worth watching if you're trapped on a long flight and have already read Sky Magazine cover to cover.

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I found "Failure to Launch" to be more entertaining than many romantic comedies out there. Hey, where else would you get to see four, count-em-four separate animal attacks? And Terry Bradshaw's hinder? Matthew McConaghey plays himself yet again, but he does it so well. He is the poster child for laconic and amiable. Sarah Jessica Parker is also entertaining. But Zooey Deschanel steals the movie as Parker's odd roommate Kit, in many ways playing the same character she did in "Elf". None of "Failure to Launch" is particularly new material, but it is handled well.

At under 100 minutes, "Failure to Launch" thankfully does not overstay its welcome. Indeed, it is refreshing to watch a comedy that does not kill the audience's goodwill by dragging way past the magic 90 minute mark.

This is not a classic comedy; you will almost certainly prefer to rent this than own it. Odds are, you'll forget you ever saw it a couple of months later. However, it is light, entertaining and funny, and worth a watch.

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I know this can never happen, but I still found myself enjoying this film. Matthew McConaughey plays a single bachelor who still lives at home with his mom and dad at age 35. They hire a woman to get him to fall in love with her so that he'll move out of the house and in with her.

But in the process, the woman starts to fall in love with the guy, and he finds out about the sinister scheme. Can this relationship be salvaged, even though it got off on the wrong foot? Since the plot is so implausible, will you even care?

I did because the movie was funny. It was a cute diversion from reality, and that's all I really ask of the movies I watch.