Failure to Launch

Reviewed by:
Pete Hammond

Failure to Launch sounds like it’s either about a botched shuttle mission or erectile dysfunction, but it’s really a romantic comedy about a 35-year-old dude (Matthew McConaughey) who won’t leave home. Unlike the rest of us, McConaughey’s character, Tripp, isn’t some aging nerd with a Klingon fetish—he's just an easygoing guy who defines the good life as the one you don’t have to pay for. He even brings a bevy of unsuspecting beautiful women in for overnighters, which works perfectly for him until they discover he’s got “commitment” issues, starting with a fear of committing to his own crib. When the old folks (Kathy Bates and NFL vet Terry Bradshaw) decide a lifetime housing arrangement is not a birthright, they hire the “girl of his dreams” (Sarah Jessica Parker), a professional consultant who guarantees she will seduce him out of the home in no time flat. Bright and breezy and totally inconsequential, Failure to Launch is loaded for laughter, and probably hits more than it misses (just bring a barf bag for Bradshaw’s nude scene).