"Failure to Launch" is either our upcoming graduates' greatest fantasy or worst fear. The prospect of leaving the nest, be it the one at mom and dad's house or the one they subsidize, is scary enough in your early twenties. But Matthew McConaughey proves that the big three-five doesn't make it any easier. No, you don't always get better with age, just bigger and tanner.
Trip (McConaughey) is not crashing at his parents' on his way to independence. Far from it, he's having a blast avoiding adult relationships and responsibilities in his perfectly preserved childhood room. Talk about arrested development: Trip wakes to his mom's (Kathy Bates) perfect, TV-commercial breakfasts, never has to make his own bed or do his own laundry. He doesn't even have to do his own dumping of girlfriends; he lets the fact that he still lives at home do it for him.
So what else can Trip's folks do but hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to help him get the @#*! out of their house? Her plan is simple: simulate a romantic relationship during which a guy can become a man through newfound confidence. How does she do this? Look hot, find out what he likes, and pretend to like it too. This is all it takes to get a guy to fall in love with you? Cool.
But Paula gets into trouble when she learns that our protagonist isn't like all the other losers she helps. Trip is already the cockiest, hottest, most successful loser Hollywood could conceive. Perhaps this explains why Paula falls for him and not any of her other ex-Star Wars lovin' clients.
Of course there's another problem with Paula's career. Her clientele all come from the same town. Everyone would know her secret, destroying her cutting edge version of therapy. And they'd probably think she was the biggest slut, which would either bring her lots of business or send these insecure pseudo-men running for the hills.
The film starts off as a great portrait of a man-child: Trip and his friends surf, mountain bike, play video games and rock climb. I don't know about you, but I don't remember my childhood being this much fun.
This is the magic of "Failure to Launch": It not only makes us want what we can't have, it makes us want what doesn't exist. When Trip takes Paula to play paintball, we get the true message of the flick: Trip isn't yet a man going off to war; he's just playing at being one. That's right, guys, you ain't a man until you have the love of a good woman (and your own house).
In the ultimate twist, Trip finds out that his parents hired his new girlfriend and, of course, has to one-up them by taking his relationship with Paula to the next level - he wants her to move in...with him and his folks. Thankfully, "Failure to Launch" doesn't drag out the whole he-knows-she-scammed-him-but-when-will-she-find-out-he's-scamming-her escapade quite as long as McConaughey's last romantic comedy, "How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days" (2003).
This is where the movie begins to fall apart. We learn that Paula has a deep emotional reason for wanting to help guys out of their parents' basements. And, likewise, Trip has a deep emotional reason for staying there.
The problem with romantic comedies is that they strive to meet the same standards as dramas and other serious films. The point of "Failure to Launch" shouldn't be depth; the viewer doesn't need to be spoon-fed the characters' psychological histories. Plain and simple, they take themselves way too seriously.
Even so, Zooey Deschanel is awesome in her portrayal of Paula's sarcastic roommate, Kit. Her combination of bizarre dialogue and deadpan expression is, without a doubt, the funniest thing about this movie. But Kathy Bates' role is forgettable. Perhaps she thought Trip's extremely mild oedipal complex would be enough to imbue her character with some interest. But letting your kid stay at home because your husband (Terry Bradshaw) freaks you out is just plain low.
Still, "Failure to Launch" is filled with random, endearing quirks that can even compensate for didactic, cheesy sentiments like, "you're afraid to love." The film suggests that living at home at 35 is just plain against nature and animals sense this better than anyone. There are several amusing scenes in which typically peaceful animals are strangely aggressive. Trip is repeatedly and suddenly attacked by chipmunks and dolphins, to name a few, who must be trying to encourage his independence - or kill him.
At the end of the film, Paula pops the question: "Do you want to spend the rest of your life having fun, or do you want to spend it with me?" And, as a graduating senior, all I could think was: are these our options?
