Failure to Launch (2006)

I watched & enjoyed "The Family Stone." I watched and forgot "How to Lose a Guy." I don't have impossible standard for films. I love romantic comedies, and if I want to see more one movie a year, I can't afford standards. But this film, "Failure to Launch," made me want to give up and stay home. I could have popped "Love, Actually" into the DVD player for the thousandth time and had a better, more rewarding evening. There are many many ways this movie went wrong, but I'd like to focus on the nail that sealed its coffin.

Two words . . .

Animatronic animals.

That's right . . . more than one. In this movie. Were you thinking "Must Love Dogs" or "The Wedding Date?" Think "Caddyshack" without the appeal.

Four separate animatronic animals appeared, one in a subplot which provided neither support nor counterpoint to the purported "main plot" (the romance between SJP & MM).

I wanted to like these subplot sections. Even with excessive sweat and scary, crazy eyes, I just love Bradley Cooper, but no actor on earth could have saved this movie.

If even one of these animatronic monstrosities had appeared in a trailer, I would have saved my $8. Maybe the failure was in marketing a low-ball comedy as a romantic comedy.

I don't ask that a romantic comedy be high art, but this was barely a romantic comedy at all.

Fmovies: I had high hopes for this movie. After all, I love all of the cast members. However, somehow, it just didn't do it for me. It was as if the screenwriters didn't know who they wanted to try to please. The over the top farcical scenes would have worked in a different movie, and the relationship scenes would have worked in a different movie. I think that one of the subplots involving Zooey Deschanel (who literally steals the show) would have been more interesting to watch than either of the two leads. Matthew McConaughey is admittedly good looking to watch, but his abs and cast have been his supporting cast long enough. And as much as I have loved Sarah Jessica Parker, she's looking a bit long in the tooth here, and is definitely too old to play the part.

Grade: C (But only for Zooey's sake, I loved her!)

...at the screen this film was so bad.

This is, arguably, the worst romantic comedy ever made. There is no witty repartee between characters, no situational comedy, no anything. Well, I take that back; you do get Terry Bradshaw's backside, but that is so gratuitous that it's not even worth a chuckle. Simply terrible film-making. If you read this, and still see the movie, you must hate yourself -- no other explanation would suffice.

As others have commented, the only attempted source of laughs in the script is the animal humor -- a few pointless, childish "jokes" where Matthew M. gets "attacked" by a chipmunk, dolphin, etc. It's as if the script was written by a four year-old -- and a wooden four year-old at that. It's hard to imagine a movie being *worse* than this. No way is this a 5.5 star flick -- even Sarah Jessica Parker could only rate this a 2-star effort. BE WARNED!!

Failure to Launch fmovies. I was stunned at how bad this movie was - so predictable, so lame and another one of these Hollywood studio processed films where it doesn't even seem like reality - like it is this parallel universe that Hollywood creates where people have jobs like boat brokers and parent, grown son interventionist! They all have names like Ace, Demo, Kit, Tripp and Captain!! We all knew EXACTLY what was going to happen the minute Sara Jessica Parker says "I never have sex with a client." Gee - wonder if she will with Matthew - er, sorry - Tripp...I also cant believe that the movie invested sooooo much time in a subplot where someone wants to murder a mockingbird. Wow! That's funny! And obviously the studio found it hilarious whenever an animal attacks a human! Woo-hoo, that's some funny comedy - Billy Wilder could learn a thing or two from these fine filmmakers about what is truly funny. A chipmunk attacks, a dolphin attacks, a mockingbird bites the guy's nose like in a Goofy cartoon oh - and a lizard attacks - and after he does - they show him snickering - thus making the snickering lizard more three-dimensional than any of the supporting characters. Plus, it really was truly creepy what SJP's character tries to do - to "date" screwed-up, mainly lonely guys and make them think she likes them to try and get them to move out. The one other scene where they show her "working" - the guy is the typical fat, nerdy slob who quotes Star Wars and you watch her pretend to like him. Man! That is one creepy job there (almost as creepy as being a boat broker. I kid! I kid the boat brokers and all the members of The Boat Brokering Association). This movie is just a mind-freeze - watch point A move to Point B and then to Point C - now go home. The fact that this thing made TONS of money says it all.

I got to see a preview of this the other night . . I went in thinking this was just another silly romantic comedy, but I must say I laughed a bit and enjoyed some of the crude humor. The audience I sat with loved it and laughed often, so I think this will do well in the theater especially those that enjoy Mr. McConaughey's abs and southern charm. There's actually some great nature shots with Dolphins and other fun-loving creatures, but I won't go into detail since it would spoil some of the crude humor in this flick. I think this would make a great date film since most of the film is told from the male perspective, so it's not your typical female male basher. Zooey Deschannel has some great moments as well with her deadpan looks and offbeat charm. There's no Oscar worthy performances here, just a fun silly, offbeat romantic comedy with a little um-nudity from Mr. Bradshaw (no frontal of course).

I really thought that this was a decent movie. I don't think that the commercials showed all the good parts either. It had plenty of parts that made me laugh out loud. I mean it did have some parts that were dry, and it reminded me of a different version of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, but I still liked it. I think that my favorite character would have to have been Kit, who is the roommate of Sarah Jessica Parkers character. I think that perhaps the main characters did not have the most humorous lines as their costars did, but each star mixed well in the movie. I think that if you are one of those people who like to watch girly movies, as I am, then you would definitely enjoy it.