Failure to Launch (2006)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Tom Dey

Writers (WGA):

Tom J. Astle (written by) &
Matt Ember (written by)

Release Date:

10 March 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

To leave the nest, some men just need a little push.

Plot:

A thirtysomething slacker suspects his parents of setting him up with his dream girl so he'll finally vacate their home.

Plot Keywords:

Friend | Secret | Mockingbird | Slacker | Love

Awards:

4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 11	9:30 PM	TBS
Sun. July 12	6:00 PM	TBS

Cast

Matthew McConaughey	...	Tripp
Sarah Jessica Parker	...	Paula
Zooey Deschanel	...	Kit
Justin Bartha	...	Ace
Bradley Cooper	...	Demo
Terry Bradshaw	...	Al
Kathy Bates	...	Sue
Tyrel Jackson Williams	...	Jeffrey
Katheryn Winnick	...	Melissa
Rob Corddry	...	Gun Salesman #1
Patton Oswalt	...	Techie Guy
Stephen Tobolowsky	...	Bud
Kate McGregor-Stewart	...	Bev
Adam Alexi-Malle	...	Mr. Axelrod
Gretchen Cleevely	...	Gretchen the Veterinarian

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity and language.

Runtime:

97 min | Philippines:95 min (cut)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Ireland:12A | Australia:M | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | France:U | Netherlands:6 | Portugal:M/12 | Malaysia:U | Argentina:Atp | Finland:K-7 | Sweden:Btl | Brazil:14 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42417) | Hungary:16 | Philippines:PG-13 | Iceland:L | South Korea:15

Filming Locations:

Annapolis, Maryland, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

Brooke Shields, Tori Spelling and Reese Witherspoon were all offered the role of Paula, but turned it down.

Goofs:

Factual errors: On Tripp's car there is no front plate. In Maryland where the film is set, there are license plates on the front of every car.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Melissa: I just feel really close to you.
Tripp: You are really close to me.

Movie Connections:

Features Irma la Douce (1963)

Soundtrack:

Devil Woman

Great Cast Wasted on a Sub-Par Sitcom Script

Why, oh, why, can Hollywood assemble such a fantastic cast, and fail the cast members so miserably with the script? Stay home and watch a "Friends" rerun and you'll probably witness a more coherent, funnier, and truer script.

Every actor in this cast, including Terry Bradshaw, a former football player, is fantastic.

In fact, why can Terry Bradshaw, a former football player, act better than professional Hollywood writers can write? This script is a mess. Scenes are short and borderline incoherent, or so dumb as to be targeted at an audience too young to care about romance. What's the point of putting goofy scenes, like the fake bird fake CPR scene, a scene that every seven year old in the audience will wake up for, in an alleged "romantic" comedy? There's no romance here. None. Zero. Zip. How do you put two such beautiful, sexy, charismatic actors -- Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker -- in a movie, and yet have absolutely zero romance or heat or sexual chemistry in the movie? I mean, you'd really have to be trying to make a movie this erotically neutered with two such stars.

Nothing here makes much of any sense at all. The scenes are a jumble of failed ideas quickly abandoned. The direction and editing are nil.

A few scenes are ridiculous and childish. Matthew McConaughey is repeatedly attacked by wild animals. These scenes just never take off.

A few scenes are painful.

MM takes SJP on a date on someone else's boat, pretending that it's his. He's caught, and has to run away. Is he supposed to be such a tacky character? Why is SJP supposed to fall in love with him? After MM discovers that his parents have been paying SJP to date him (this isn't a spoiler; this plot device is revealed early on), he uses a particularly crude word to tell her to go away. It's a believable reaction, but since everything else in the movie is so unbelievable, it's just awkward and does not fit.

Then there is the scene where one group of characters spies on another couple of characters via webcams. It's meant to be heartwarming, but it's just utterly unbelievable and really creepy. Whoever scripted this scene is tone deaf.

And a few scenes are just plain bizarre, as if they came from another movie.

This is such a shame. The actors were up for it, but the script writers and director gave them nothing to work with.