Failure to Launch

Failure to Launch is a 2006 American romantic comedy film directed by Tom Dey, and starring Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker. The film focuses on a 35-year-old man living with his parents who shows no interest in leaving the comfortable life that they, especially his mother, have made for him. It was released on March 10, 2006, and grossed over $128 million.

Failure to Launch
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTom Dey
Produced byScott Rudin
Scott Aversano
Written byTom J. Astle
Matt Ember
StarringMatthew McConaughey
Sarah Jessica Parker
Zooey Deschanel
Justin Bartha
Bradley Cooper
Terry Bradshaw
Kathy Bates
Music byRolfe Kent
CinematographyClaudio Miranda
Edited bySteven Rosenblum
Production
company
Scott Rudin Productions
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • March 10, 2006 (2006-03-10)
Running time
97 minutes
LanguageEnglish
Budget$50 million
Box office$130.2 million

Production

The rock climbing scenes were filmed in Cherokee Rock Village in Leesburg, Alabama.[1]

Plot

35-year-old Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) still lives with his parents Al (Terry Bradshaw) and Sue (Kathy Bates) in Baltimore. His best friends Demo (Bradley Cooper) and Ace (Justin Bartha) also still live in their parents' homes and seem proud of it. Tripp has had a number of casual girlfriends. When he tires of them, he invites them to “his place"—and when they realize he still lives at home, they promptly dump him.

Al and Sue are fascinated when their friends, whose adult son recently left home, reveal they hired an expert to induce him to move out. The expert is Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), who believes that men continue to live at home because they have low self-esteem. Her approach is to establish a relationship with the man to build his confidence, then transfer his attachment from his parents to her. However, she finds that Tripp does not fit her previous profiles, as he has normal social skills, good self-esteem, and a good job he enjoys. After an awkward encounter with his parents, Paula thwarts Tripp's attempt to dump her and has sex with him, all the while developing real feelings for him. She and Tripp find themselves in unfamiliar waters and confide in their friends.

Paula's vocation exasperates her roommate Kit (Zooey Deschanel), who thinks Paula took the job because a man broke her heart who lived with his parents. Paula is shocked when she learns why Tripp lives at home: His life collapsed when his fiancée suddenly died, and his family has been his solace since then.

Ace discovers what is going on and blackmails Paula for a date with Kit; although Kit is more attracted to Demo, she and Ace wind up falling in love. Ace then "outs" Paula to Demo, who then reveals all to Tripp. Tripp angrily confronts his parents and breaks up with Paula. Wracked with guilt, Paula refunds Al's and Sue's money. After an awkward confrontation, Tripp forgives his parents, but he can't forgive Paula for manipulating him.

Tripp's parents and friends devise a plan to reconcile the two. They tie up and gag Tripp and lock him and Paula together in a room. Paula pours her heart out to him, and he finally forgives her. The film ends with Al and Sue in their empty nest, happily singing "Hit the Road, Tripp". This fades into the closing credits over the Ray Charles song "Hit the Road, Jack", and we see Tripp and Paula sail away on his newly purchased boat.

Cast

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $24.6 million, ranking first in the United States box office results for that weekend. The film grossed a total of around $90 million in the United States box office and made $128,406,887 worldwide.[2]

Critical response

The film received negative reviews from critics. As of June 2020, the film holds a 24% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 152 reviews with an average rating of 4.59/10. The site's consensus states: "The few comic gags sprinkled throughout the movie fail to spice up this formulaic rom-com."[3] Film critic Richard Roeper stated the film was "completely unbelievable". Some otherwise negative reviews singled out Zooey Deschanel's performance as the film's highlight.[4][5][6] Stephanie Zacharek of Salon wrote that "Even with a relatively small role, she blows the whole movie to smithereens".[4]

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See also

References
  1. "Cherokee Rock Village". encyclopediaofalabama.org. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  2. "Failure to Launch". BoxOfficeMojo.com. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  3. "Failure to Launch (2006)". Retrieved 15 June 2020 – via www.rottentomatoes.com.
  4. Zacharek, Stephanie (10 March 2006). "Failure to Launch". Salon.com. Retrieved 6 January 2013.
  5. Rabin, Nathan. "Failure To Launch | Film | Review". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  6. "Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies". Film Threat. 2006-04-16. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
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