Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
By admin /
September 5, 2010 /
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Paramount Failure to Launch – HD-DVD
Matthew McConaughey is Tripp, a 35-year-old who still lives with his parents. And who can blame him? It’s free, he’s gota great room, and mom (Kathy Bates) does the laundry. Desperate to get him out of the house, his parents hire a gorgeous woman, Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), to give him a little…push. They just didn’t expect Tripp would push back! Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha, Terry Bradshaw and Alias’ BradleyCooper co-star in this romantic battle of wills that proves there’s no place like home.The plot of Failure to Launch is utterly implausible, yet the movie is thoroughly fun. Tripp (laid-back Matthew McConaughey, Sahara, Dazed and Confused) is a 35-year-old man who still lives with his parents (Kathy Bates, Misery, and ex-quarterback Terry Bradshaw)–and they aren’t happy about it. Eager to get him out of the nest, they hire Paula (Sex and the City‘s Sarah Jessica Parker), a professional motivator who feigns relationships with boy-men so that their improved self-esteem will lead them to leave the nest. But Tripp’s not the usual insecure shut-in Paula’s used to, and as sparks fly, Paula finds herself losing her professional distance. This sort of set-up drove classic screwball comedies of the 1930s and 40s; once you embrace the absurdity, the movie zips along with a surprising balance of humor and bittersweet shadings. Failure to Launch gets a huge boost from the supporting performance of Zooey Deschanel (Elf) as Paula’s housemate Kit–part sourpuss, part tomboy, and entirely sexy and winning. McConaughey and Parker have enjoyable chemistry and carry the movie well, but Deschanel is an oddball romantic-heroine-in-waiting. Also featuring Bradley Cooper (Alias) and Justin Bartha (National Treasure). –Bret Fetzer
Rating:  (out of 156 reviews)
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Review by M. J Leonard for Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
Rating:
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.
Review by Classic Movie watcher for Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
Rating:
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.
Review by Matt for Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
Rating:
This is an entertaining movie. It’s fairly funny and the cast works well together. I don’t care all that much for Sarah Jessica Parker as a leading lady, but it doesn’t work to the detriment of the film, in this case.
Matthew McConaughey does a really good job with his role as a thirty-something man who refuses to leave his parents’ home. He has it made living there, but there is the obvious drawback: women are not impressed with his situation. Once he gets women back home, they are usually sent running. Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw are hilarious as his parents. They are definitely a bright point in the movie. Sarah Jessica Parker comes along to try and get Tripp (McConaughey) to finally move out of the house.
This is definitely not a movie that I would care to own, but it is quite a bit better than most romantic comedies.
Review by Michael Zuffa for Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
Rating:
Trip (McConaughey) is a 35 year old that still lives with Mom (Bates) and Dad (Bradshaw). They do everything for him, and they are his ticket out of serious relationships. One day, Mom and Dad hire Paula (Parker), an “interventionist” who specializes in getting kids out of their parents homes. Her plan: get Trip to fall in love with her which will make him want to break away from his parents. Of course, things do not go smoothly and Paula finds herself falling in love. When Trip’s friends find out what she does for a living, things get even worse for Paula.
“Failure to Launch” is a so-so movie. Fans of the romantic comedy will probably like the film, but there is nothing special about it. There is little chemistry between McConaughey and Parker, and the side stories are a bit too silly. The film has an uneven feel to it, almost as if the B-story was added just to pad the running time. There are some genuine laughs, but they are too few and far bewteen. This is for fans of romantic comedies only.
Review by tvtv3 for Failure to Launch (Special Collector’s Edition) [HD DVD]
Rating:
Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker star in this romantic comedy about a thirty-something who still lives at home. McConaughey plays Tripp, a thirty-something boat salesman who still lives with his parents in Baltimore, Maryland (surprisingly, Baltimore looks a lot like some of the towns in Western California, palm trees and all). His parents, Al & Sue (played by Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates) love their son, but want him out of the house and in a place of his own. Desperate, his parents call in a specialist, Paula (played by Sarah Jessica Parker). Paula has made a job out of pretending to fall in love with men so that they will move out on their own. The only problem is that Tripp isn’t like the typical man Paula has worked with before: he’s tall, tan, dresses well, and earns good money. All of her other previous clients apparently were short, fat, fan-boy types who could barely hold down a part-time job. Paula ends up falling in love with Tripp. Tripp realizes this and tries to get her to break up with him before things get serious. Apparently Tripp likes women but is only interested in them long enough to get what he wants. Tripp ends up falling for Paula and the two end up in a collision course that seems to derail, but is really nothing more than a pit stop.
I was surprised and ended up enjoying FAILURE TO LAUNCH somewhat. Most of this was because of the supporting cast. Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates make a great couple and have some really funny lines. However, all of the other performers are completely upstaged by the performances of Zooey Deschanel as Paula’s housemate, Kit, and Justin Bartha as Tripp’s best friend, Ace. Ace originally appears as a kind of slacker fan-boy, kind of like the people that Paula normally help “launch” into their own lives. But, Ace really isn’t like that. He ends up on a date with Kit as a bribe from Paula to keep quite about secrets he has unraveled. The two end up becoming a pair after Ace uses a Red Ryder BB gun (thanks A CHRISTMAS STORY) to shoot a mockingbird outside her bedroom window that has given her insomnia for several weeks. Deschanel and Bartha steal every scene they are in and their love story is more romantic than that of Tripp and Paula (not to mention how much better their acting is).
FAILURE TO LAUNCH is a movie than many women will enjoy watching. There are a few jokes that are aimed at guys, but the people who put this film together knew that the core audience of this film is women. Still, with that in mind, I find some of the film’s messages a bit disconcerting. I realize that perception in the U.S. has changed dramatically recently, but there was a time in the U.S. when it was common, actually it was expected, that children would remain living at their family homes until they were married. The family was the core and both men and women remained at home to support their families until they had families of their own. Even after marriage, many families ended up living in the same homes and neighborhoods. That idea of life seems to be lost in postmodern suburbia super-sized America, but it’s actually the norm in most other countries of the world. The movie also seems to say that unless you’re a tall, thin, tan, handsome man, you really don’t have much chance of ever being involved in a relationship (Ace looks more like an average Joe, but he’s still too handsome). As for women, the message seems to be that the only guys worth being in a relationship with are men who don’t exist. These messages provide a lot of laughs, but fail to launch the movie into a realm of meaning and purpose.