Failure To Launch

The reviewers at the Internet Movie Database gave Failure to Launch a mediocre rating of 5.5 out of 10. Maybe the movie caught me off guard, or maybe it’s just because I’m a sucker for running gags, but I liked it.

It’s light, the performances… even Terry Bradshaw’s… were good and the running gag involves various wild animals, including a geographically-displaced chuckwalla, biting the World’s Sexiest Man. And what’s not to like about that?

Failure to Launch stars Matthew McConaughey as Tripp, a happy-go-lucky 35-year-old yacht salesman who’s too comfortable and maybe too emotionally damaged to leave home. His mother, played by Kathy Bates coddles him and his father, played goofily by Bradshaw, just wants the house back for his own odd purposes. So they hire Sarah Jessica Parker (Paula) a professional interventionist experienced in such matters to induce him to leave home.

Of course everything seems to be going fine. Paula’s well-refined methods have Tripp ready to leave, but she is also falling in love with him, a professional no-no. Of course, everybody in the theater knew where this movie was going (dollar movie theater patrons are pretty smart, after all) because, as we all know, ‘the course of true love never did run smooth.' But getting there was fun.

Considering how bankable Parker and McConaughey are, Failure to Launch turns a lot of the movie over to the co-stars including Zooey Deschanel (Elf), Justin Bartha (National Treasure), Bradley Cooper (Alias), Bradshaw and Bates. BTW, when are we going to see Kathy Bates in another role like Misery, where she's so convincing as a menacing psychopath?

All that said, Failure to Launch could have been a Rock Hudson-Doris Day romp — light, funny and clean—but it’s not. The PG-13 rating… for sexual content, partial nudity and language, including the "R-word"… is legitimate. It’s not appropriate for young teens.

Because Failure to Launch too often aims low, Dollar Movie Review grades it as a solid C.

The Dollar Movie Review Grading System: The Dollar Movie Review grades on a curve. Movies that make choices to be course or vulgar are downgraded a full to a half grade or more. Likewise, movies that don’t gross out or offend too much can be upgraded as ‘a thanks for trying’ attaboy. In my view, Failure to Launch was a solid B without the strong language, the sexual content and Bradshaw's oft remarked-upon bare butt.