Review of Failure to Launch (2006) by Lizzie H — 02 Nov 2008
Tripp is a man in his thirties who still lives with his parents. His parents hire Paula to get him to move out. The film manages the set-up, but forgets to fill in the romance.
Matthew McConaughey as Tripp is off-putting to watch, and his accent so thick it is often difficult to understand what he is saying - and baffling, since no one else in the film, including his parents, share his accent. As for the character, he isn't given a personality or any depth, except for a sledge-hammered back story about a dead fiancee, which is dropped in towards the end of the film. Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) repeatedly mentions how sweet Tripp is, but this sweetness must be going on off screen, as on screen he is constantly a jerk. There is also no chemistry between McConaughey and Parker which makes the so-called romance hard to notice. If it is there at all.
Paula is given even less personality than Tripp. All we know about her is that she gets men to move out of their parents' home professionally. She only refers to Tripp in terms of the job, so when after about half an hour we have to be told Paula has feelings for Tripp, it is a surprise. It certainly isn't in the performance or the dialogue. It would help if we saw her doing her job before being hired in to help Tripp. As it is, it is very confusing how she is so successful since she utterly fails in every aspect of her job with Tripp. And realising she is failing in her job, she sleeps with Tripp - for money. She becomes a prostitute, and doesn't bat an eyelid. How is this not an important plot development?
The film generally doesn't make sense and the scenes in which Tripp is attacked by a chipmunk/dolphin/lizard seem to have wandered in from a different genre, and fail to amuse. However, the scene in which Kit, Paula's housemate, tries to buy a gun is very funny, the only funny moment of the film, mainly due to the performance by the salesman (Rob Corddry).
As for the supporting cast, Kathy Bates as Tripp's mum hams it up and Zooey Deschanel as Kit phones in her usual tediously bored performance - this is obviously her selling point, but strangely enough, a bored actor is boring to watch.
Basically, Failure To Launch is an entirely disengaging film and forgets to actually put any romance in between the set-up and the finale.
This review of Failure to Launch (2006) was written by Lizzie H on 02 Nov 2008.
Failure to Launch has generally received mixed reviews.
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