Running time: 97 minutes
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel, Kathy Bates, Terry Bradshaw
Rating 4 out of 10
Whether the rumours about Matthew McConaughey disliking his co-star Sarah Jessica Parker are true, one thing is certain, there isn't much love on screen. Suffice to say, Bogart and Bacall they are not. McConaughey apparently referred to Parker as "peculiar", a term that could equally have been aimed at moments in this all too un-romantic comedy. I'm not quite sure why it is that this genre allows the normal rules of plausibility to be stretched beyond credulity, but any film which includes one man giving CPR to a mocking bird and another being savaged by a chipmunk lays itself open to ridicule.
As often happens when the central pairing lack the necessary chemistry to sustain events, it's left to the peripheral characters to salvage things. In Failure To Launch it's Zooey Deschanel who steals the show as Paula's (Parker) droll, cynical flatmate Kit. Paula is a professional interventionist, a job that requires her to lure away grown men who are reluctant to severe their apron strings. It's not clear how many cruel parents would pay a woman to have their son fall in love with them for the sole purpose of having him move out, even though the move would be swiftly followed by inevitable heartache as the woman leaves to move on to her next client. But such questions aren't the domain of Failure To Launch, which simply expects us to buy into such a spurious premise.
The client in this instance is Tripp (McConaughey), a 35-year-old arrested adolescent boat broker for whom living with his parents serves him well. He gets fed, has his laundry done and, more importantly, can neatly terminate any relationship that looks like it's getting serious by simply bringing the unsuspecting girl home. It's a tactic that's worked successfully for years, but one Tripp's parents Sue and Al (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) have become increasingly tired of. Desperate to finally have their nest emptied, they call in Paula.
In Paula's line of work she usually has to deal with losers and nerds, but things get complicated when she finds herself falling for the "cute" Tripp. The scenes when Paula relays her feelings about Tripp to Kit are essential as little that happens between the couple would suggest that's how she felt. The inclusion of a whole subplot involving Kit's mission to get rid of a mocking bird that keeps her up at night comes across as padding for an all too thin plot, but it's certainly welcome as Kit provides the bulk of the comedic moments, unless of course the sight of Bradshaw's wrinkled backside constitutes your kind of humour.
It would be too easy to say the film's title serves better as an appropriate criticism, but watching Failure To Launch was hard enough work so any help in damning it is too good an opportunity to miss.
Kevin Murphy
As often happens when the central pairing lack the necessary chemistry to sustain events, it's left to the peripheral characters to salvage things. In Failure To Launch it's Zooey Deschanel who steals the show as Paula's (Parker) droll, cynical flatmate Kit. Paula is a professional interventionist, a job that requires her to lure away grown men who are reluctant to severe their apron strings. It's not clear how many cruel parents would pay a woman to have their son fall in love with them for the sole purpose of having him move out, even though the move would be swiftly followed by inevitable heartache as the woman leaves to move on to her next client. But such questions aren't the domain of Failure To Launch, which simply expects us to buy into such a spurious premise.
The client in this instance is Tripp (McConaughey), a 35-year-old arrested adolescent boat broker for whom living with his parents serves him well. He gets fed, has his laundry done and, more importantly, can neatly terminate any relationship that looks like it's getting serious by simply bringing the unsuspecting girl home. It's a tactic that's worked successfully for years, but one Tripp's parents Sue and Al (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw) have become increasingly tired of. Desperate to finally have their nest emptied, they call in Paula.
In Paula's line of work she usually has to deal with losers and nerds, but things get complicated when she finds herself falling for the "cute" Tripp. The scenes when Paula relays her feelings about Tripp to Kit are essential as little that happens between the couple would suggest that's how she felt. The inclusion of a whole subplot involving Kit's mission to get rid of a mocking bird that keeps her up at night comes across as padding for an all too thin plot, but it's certainly welcome as Kit provides the bulk of the comedic moments, unless of course the sight of Bradshaw's wrinkled backside constitutes your kind of humour.
It would be too easy to say the film's title serves better as an appropriate criticism, but watching Failure To Launch was hard enough work so any help in damning it is too good an opportunity to miss.
Kevin Murphy
