Buy this poster Failure to Launch Rated PG-13 (for sexual content, partial nudity and language) Genre: Romantic comedy Theater release: March 10, 2006 by Paramount Brothers Directed by: Tom Dey Runtime: 97 minutes Cast: Matthew McConaughey (Tripp), Sarah Jessica Parker (Paula), Zooey Deschanel (Kit), Terry Bradshaw (Al), Kathy Bates (Sue), Justin Bartha (Ace), Bradley Cooper (Demo) Related: • Talk About It/Family Corner • What Others Are Saying

Some guys introduce their girlfriends to their parents when they want to get serious about a relationship. But not Tripp, the athletic ladies' man played by Matthew McConaughey in Failure to Launch. When he thinks a girlfriend is getting too serious, he takes her back to his place—where she soon discovers that he still lives with his parents, and that his father is prone to wandering into his bedroom even when Tripp is, um, entertaining a lady. Inevitably, the girlfriend is shocked, and angry, and leaves—and Tripp is free to play the field once again, while his mother keeps looking after his laundry, his room, and his food.

Matthew McConaughey stars as Tripp, a 35-year-old slacker who's still living with his parents

The experts who study these things say that as many as two out of five people in their 20s and early 30s are "adultescents," living like teenagers in their parents' homes while enjoying lives of relative luxury—driving nice cars, going on vacations and doing various other things that are possible when you've got a grown-up income but you don't have to worry about certain basic living expenses. The subject is certainly ripe for a movie, even a romantic comedy, but Failure to Launch drops the ball almost immediately, by relying on the sorts of gags and tricks that never occur anywhere but on the big screen.

Take, for example, Tripp's romantic foil, a woman named Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) who asks him out on a date—or asks him to ask her out, or something like that—when they meet in a furniture store. Unbeknownst to Tripp, Paula is a professional "interventionist" who is hired by parents to get cozy with their grown-up sons and thereby draw them out of the nest; she even has a list of "steps" to go through, such as "emotional crisis day," that are designed to form emotional attachments so strong that the men she dates will want to move out of their parents' houses. But Tripp is so insistent on staying unattached that you just know he's going to try to shake Paula off once she seems to be getting serious with him. So he's plotting against her, and she's plotting against him, and they both believe their plans are foolproof—but because this is a romantic comedy, you expect things to turn out in ways that they never expected. It's like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days in reverse.

Tripp's parents set him up with Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), the girl of his dreams

Never mind the sheer improbability of people like Paula actually having jobs like hers; the arrangement between her and her clients seems pretty dysfunctional. Paula insists she does not sleep with her clients—or, rather, with her clients' children—and presumably she dumps the men she dates once they have moved out and her mission is accomplished. But would parents really be so desperate to get rid of their children that they would deliberately plot to break their hearts, instead of, say, telling them to leave and changing the locks? And what sort of private or social life could a person like Paula possibly expect to have? The women Tripp dates may be put off by the fact that he lives with his parents, but what man would want to date a woman who deliberately dates and dumps other men for a living?

There is a hint of an answer to that last question: Paula lives with a woman named Kit, the latest in a series of jaded, sarcastic sidekicks played by Zooey Deschanel, and while it's always amusing to see her in these sorts of roles, she's almost on autopilot here. Anyway, it's not too hard to figure out that Paula's life is so empty, and her treatment of men so cold and calculating, that she probably finds the presence of her cynical roommate comforting or reassuring. But their living arrangement raises at least one more question that the film never answers: Do they own or rent? And how do they afford the place? In a movie that is all about homes and self-sufficiency, this kind of plot hole looms larger than usual—especially when one of the women announces that she's going to move out.

Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw play Tripp's parents, who are more than ready for an empty nest

The film is directed by Tom Dey (whose two previous films were the buddy flicks Shanghai Noon and Showtime) from a script by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, both of whom have worked exclusively in television until now—and there is a certain sitcom superficiality to the humor, especially where sex and the discussion thereof is concerned. The film also indulges in a peculiar, and very broadly played, running gag in which Tripp and at least one other person are attacked by biting animals—everything from chipmunks to dolphins. Apparently, as one of Tripp's friends interprets these incidents, it is so unnatural for Tripp to still be living at home, that Nature itself is taking action against him—an idea so wacky that you may wish the film had ditched it altogether, or incorporated even more of that sort of absurdism, instead of settling back into the standard romantic-comedy clichés.

But somehow the movie isn't a complete write-off. For one thing, it does benefit from the easygoing charisma of its cast. If you like spending time with the likes of McConaughey, Parker and Deschanel—or with Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates, who play Tripp's parents—then this may be a tolerable date movie. But if you don't, then the multiple contrivances and the inevitable grinding of the storytelling gears, especially in the final half-hour, will have you itching to go home—whether you happen to live with your parents or not.

Talk About It

Discussion starters

1. Why do you think Tripp's parents haven't kicked him out of the house yet? Should they kick him out? If so, what sorts of methods do you think they should try? 2. What do you think of the 20-somethings and 30-something who still live with their parents? Is it always a bad thing? Under what circumstances might it be OK? 3. Tripp's mom is scared to be alone with her husband again, because she fears having to get to know him all over again. Is this realistic? What does that say about their relationship? How can husbands and wives continue to "know" each other, even when living with their children (no matter the children's age)? 4. Is there any merit to the idea that there are "steps" that relationships go through? Is it possible to plan around, or for, these "steps"? Discuss.

The Family Corner	For parents to consider
Failure to Launch is rated PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity and language. Most of the sex is off-screen or merely talked about, and a couple of naked characters are obscured by the objects they stand behind—though a man's rear end is seen several times as he walks around. The dozen-or-so bad words are almost evenly divided between four-letter words and references to God or Christ.

Photos © Copyright Paramount Brothers

© Peter T. Chattaway 2006, subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

Christian film critics are giving the film a pounding, even though it debuted at No. 1 at the box office.

Jonathan Rodriguez (Christian Spotlight) says "the screenwriters should have spent a little more time developing good dialogue and a cohesive plot, instead of cheating themselves and us with cheap animal gags. All this and I haven't even touched the ending, which is so preposterous it makes even Hitch look like a romantic comedy classic."

Harry Forbes (Catholic News Service) says, "Ultimately, the story is resolved in a moral way, and the film overall conveys a good message. You may find this an amusing spin— with a surprisingly serious underpinning—on a current phenomenon that's been dubbed 'adultescence,' provided you're willing to overlook … disagreeable elements"—which he details in his review.

Bob Smithouser (Plugged In) finds it hard to care about the central characters, starting with Tripp: "Exactly why are we supposed to rally around this turkey?" And Paula: "So why are women supposed to feel something for her? … [T]he audience spends 95 minutes being cajoled into feeling sorry for the human equivalent of wolverines in heat."

Cliff Vaughn (Ethics Daily) says that "a synopsis or preview basically tells you everything there is to know about the movie. … [T]he plot's trajectory is predictable, but Launch is of course not about narrative inventiveness. It's about laughs amid clichéd family tensions."

Lisa Rice (Crosswalk) says that despite its "cute premise and a few great lines," the story "feels contrived at times, and unable to sustain the cute initial premise. … . [P]erhaps the greater problem for moral-minded audiences is that Failure to Launch goes over the top in its portrayals of alcohol, foul language, the allusion to sex, and Kit appearing to be a functional alcoholic … . Finally, we are subjected to the naked backside of Terry Bradshaw, which most of us could have gone all year without seeing."

Mainstream critics say Failure to Launch simply fails to, er, lift off.

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