DVD Review: Failure To Launch (2006)
June 21st 2010 09:16
Failure to Launch Poster - image sourced from Google
In this romantic comedy directed by Tom Dey and written by Tom J Astle & Matt Ember, Matthew McConaughey stars as Tripp, a 30-something boat broker who is happily ensconed in the family home with no desire to fly the nest.
His happless parents Sue and Al (played by Terry Bradshaw and Oscar Winner Kathleen Bates) here about a professional interventionist Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) and set a plan in motion to knock their son out of his comfortable nest, and into a home of his own.
Tripp and his two friends Ace (Justin Bartha) and Demo (Bradley Cooper) all live at home with their parents, justifying their decision with excuses such as keeping their mothers company, or just being too much of a free spirit to settle down elsewhere.
When Paula enters Tripps life, it seems like a casual pick up for Tripp, who makes a move on Paula in a furniture store, where his parents are bickering over which recliner to buy. Tripp invites Paula out on a date and the scene is set.
Failure to Launch - image sourced from Google.
Failure to Launch has - if you'll pardon the pun - failure stamped right across it. And it was a pleasent surprise to find the film to be, on the whole a satisfying romantic comedy. There are no surprises in the plot. What you expect is what you get. A formulaic romantic comedy where boy meets girl, boy loses girl, and boy gets girl back again with a little help from his friends and mother nature.
There is a running joke in the film that see's Tripp being bitten by everything that comes near him, a squirrel, a dolphin, and some lizard type creature that culminates in a lecture from Demo about nature herself rejecting him. Personally, when the film tried to get heavy, it lost me. If I want a lesson with my movie, a romantic comedy about fresh starts isn't where I expect or want to find it.
One wonderful find for me was Zooey Deschanel, who plays Paula's friend and room mate Kit. A constant battle with a mockingbird who has taken up residence outside her window, and Kit's constant acerbic wit really lighten the mood and bring a sense of humour to the film. It's a shame the romantic relationship the film hinges on isn't the one between Kit and Ace. They made a cute and funny couple.
The moment of realisation for Tripp, when he's friend Demo tells him of Paula's true role was a bit overly dramatic for me. Granted I knew he'd find out sooner or later but that scene and the dinner scene that followed made me think more of an overgrown child, than a man damaged by the loss of the love of his life six years earlier.
That cool, corporate Paula falls in love with the rougish Tripp is no surprise either, although her moping about during the second part of the film and deciding to run away to Kanas or Denver or wherever it was was painful.
The final conclusion of the film is sweet, where Tripp and Paula admit they're adoration of each other but it seemed almost stuck on, as if the writers had run well but reached the finished line without knowing quite how to wrap it up. The final scene were a dolphin - I'm guessing it's supposed to be the one who bit Tripp earlier in the film - turns up and greets him like an old friend, obviously signifying Tripps reconnection to his spirit was a bit overly done. Actually the film would be no better or worse without it.
Failure to Launch is a good Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon film. It's entertaining, has some seriously good comedic performances and while it is a romantic comedy it does try to pay lip service to issue such as the empty nest, healing a broken heart and being true to yourself, no matter what comes your way.
All in all it was an enjoyable way to spend 90 minutes.
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