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Failure to Launch
Movie Stats & Links |
Starring: |
Matthew
McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel, Terry
Bradshaw, Kathy Bates |
MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
Released By: |
Paramount Pictures |
Web Site: |
www.failuretolaunchmovie.com |
Kiddie Movie: |
Nope, it's an
adult story. |
Date Movie: |
If you don't live
with your parents, at least she won't have to wonder when
you finally decide to take her to "your" place. |
Gratuitous Sex: |
Some
under-the-covers stuff. |
Gratuitous
Violence: |
Nah. |
Action: |
Nah. |
Laughs: |
Quite a few, I
thought. |
Memorable
Scene: |
I nearly had Diet
Coke squirting out of my nostrils at the mockingbird death
scene. |
Memorable
Quote: |
Nothing that
great. |
Directed By: |
Tom Dey |
Produced By: |
Scott Rudin, Sott
Aversano |
|
Failure to Launch
A Movie Review |
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Sometimes, as a movie reviewer, I find myself in the
minority of movie reviewers, and such I find myself again in
regards to the movie "Failure to Launch," because, well, I
actually liked the movie. First, let’s get to the movie
itself…
"Failure to Launch" gives us Matthew McConaughey as
Tripp. Tripp is in his 30’s and lives at home with parents
Al (Terry Bradshaw) and Sue (Kathy Bates). This may sound
odd, but with his utter fear of commitment, and the fact
that his mom still makes him breakfast, washes his clothes,
cleans his room, and they let him have his friends over,
it’s actually a pretty sweet set-up. I mention the fear of
commitment part because even though Tripp is good with the
ladies, once he sees that look in their eyes that they want
a more meaningful relationship, well, Tripp then takes them
back to "his" place where once the girls find out he still
lives at home, well, they’re out of there quicker than shit
through a goose.
Well, Mom and Dad are getting a little tired of Tripp
still living at home, and they find out about this service,
or dudette as you will, who will let you pay her to get your
kid moved out. Enter Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), said
dudette. Yup, she gets hired to get Tripp to move out, and
she things are going smoothly until, well, I know, you can
guess it, she starts falling for Tripp. But she has a job to
do, especially since she’s getting paid for it, so she keeps
trying to work Tripp, who, in the meantime, is, of course,
falling for Paula. With that Tripp knows it’s time to end
the relationship, so he invites Paula "home," except when
Paula "finds out" Tripp lives at home, Paula throws a wrench
into Tripp’s break-up plans by, well, not breaking up with
him. Tripp is in new waters, Paula does the one thing she’s
not supposed to do as part of her job, namely sleep with
client’s son, but the movie must move along. In the
meantime, one of Tripp’s buddies is falling for Paula’s
friend, Kit (Zooey Deschanel), to give us a subplot.
Yes you can probably guess how things go, I mean, it’s
pretty straightforward. You can guess that Tripp will find
out Paula was hired by his parents to get him to move out of
the house, and of course, this will not have a good ending.
You can guess it will be revealed why Tripp still lives at
home. You can also guess that Mom, Dad, Kit, and the
friends, all connive a ways to get Tripp and Paula back
together. And yes, you can probably guess that all live
happily ever after.
Critics seem to be bashing this film because it is so
predictable but sometimes predictable can be fun. Other
critics are bashing that we really don’t need to see Terry
Bradshaw’s butt, and even though I agree, I would rather
have seen Zooey’s, I found the scene pretty funny. Still
other critics just consider all of the characters, except
maybe Kit, as complete idiots. Me, I laughed, and really,
that’s all I wanted to do. I’m not saying "Failure to
Launch" will make it into the annals of a "Sleepless in
Seattle" romantic comedy, but I wasn’t the only one laughing
in the theater so I don’t think I’m alone in liking it for
what it was.
There are worse movies out there, and I’ll bet some
dudes, as they get dragged to the theater to see this movie,
whose relationships might be near the ending stage, might
actually figure that Tripp has a pretty good set-up living
at home. They might even wish they lived at home, too, so
they could take their date home after the movie, sleep with
them, have them figure out he lives with his parents, and
they break up with him. You know what Tripp gets the
morning after a break-up? A fantastic breakfast from Mom, he steals the sports'
section from Dad, and Mom cleans his room. Not too bad.
Nothing great, nothing horrible. I’d say pay for a
matinee and it’s a solid DVD rental. With that, as opposed
to most critics who seem to really not like this movie, I’m
giving "Failure to Launch" 3 ½ stars out of 5.
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |