Failure to Launch

The improbable happens in director Tom Dey’s Failure to Launch: Matthew McConaughey plays a "loser" who still lives at home with his folks, who in turn have had to hire Sarah Jessica Parker to help him get his act together and out the house.

Yeah – like McConaughey would have such a problem. He so probably doesn’t, which is why Failure to Launch is escapism at its semi-finest.

Amusing moments? Check. Sun-kissed, chemistry-blessed leads? Check. Satisfying resolution? Like you even have to ask!

In the movie, the reigning Sexiest Man Alive plays Trip, a ruggedly handsome thirtysomething man who still lives with mom and pop. And why wouldn’t he? The place is quite nice and his every need and want is tended to – no wonder he says ''it's gonna take a stick of dynamite'' to get him out.

His parents (played by Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates) are rather unhappy with the situation, though (yet they hardly ever stop to ponder whether they have enabled their son’s arrested development). After all, Trip is just swell and seemingly well adjusted, so why hasn’t he flown the coop?

Naturally, they come up with the perfect solution (in theory only – don’t forget this is a romantic comedy) and hire Paula (Parker), a professional motivator, to give Trip the little push he needs to grow up. This, of course, sets in motion the events that will make Failure to Launch tick…or not.

An intriguingly plotted movie that launches all right, but fails to keep its audience captive, especially when its two leads aren’t on screen together, Failure to Launch is frequently derivative and lacks focus (what’s with Dey’s random scenes with animals, anyway?).

The thought that a man as good-looking and charming as McConaughey could ever be such a "loser" seems preposterous (thank goodness Trip’s more than meets the eye, even if this eventual revelation is played too by-the-book).

But any movie that has a character asking another if they want to spend the rest of their lives having fun or if they want to spend it with them is well worth the bother, if you ask me. I just loved that Paula asks Trip this at one point.

And McConaughey and Parker – in yet another (agreeable still) variation of the quintessential It Woman she perfected so lovely on HBO’s Sex and the City – have an exciting rapport and complement each other famously. And they photograph together rather handsomely.

Also noteworthy are Bradley Cooper (TV's Alias, Wedding Crashers), Justin Bartha (National Treasure), and Zooey Deschanel (All the Real Girls) as Trip and Paula’s best friends, who pop in long enough to help better (though not always successfully) establish their motives.

Everyone, however, looks as if they are, in fact, working instead of enjoying the story and the New Orleans background, which is where the movie shot last summer. Watching these characters flutter around against stimulating a background should help you enjoy Failure to Launch just fine.

My Rating **1/2

Photo: Paramount Pictures.