THIS MOVIE'S A `FAILURE' IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE.Byline: Bob Strauss Film Critic`FAILURE TO Launch'' does not achieve altitude. In fact, it never gets off the ground. You could say that the movie just sort of lies there. OK, I admit none of those puns are funny. But neither is a minute of this supposed romantic comedy. Think its premise could have something to do with that? Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) is 35 and still lives with his parents, Al and Sue (Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is a former American football quarterback with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). He is currently a football analyst and co-host of FOX NFL Sunday. and Kathy Bates Bates , Katherine Lee 1859-1929. American educator and writer best known for her poem "America the Beautiful," written in 1893 and revised in 1904 and 1911. , who must have had fascinating conversations about the craft of acting between takes). It's not because he's a loser. Far from it. He's attractive, charming, into relatively juvenile but physically demanding extreme sports extreme sports Sports events characterized by high speed or high risk. Such sports include aggressive inline skating, wakeboarding, street luge, skateboarding, and freestyle bicycle events (wherein tricks such as back flips are performed on a bicycle). and has a cool job selling pleasure boats. Tripp's just commitment-phobic, and the best way he knows how to chase away a babe with that settle-down look in her eyes is to take her home to meet the parents. That appears to be the first and last time he ever sleeps with a woman he's dating, too - something the movie doesn't acknowledge is weird at all. And, uh, his best buds, Ace (Justin Bartha, who will forever be known as the best thing in ``Gigli'') and Demo (Bradley Cooper of ``Alias'') live with their folks, too. Less worried about any of that than the fact that Tripp is cramping cramping see cramp. their retirement lifestyle, Al and Sue hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), who specializes in getting mama's boys Mama's Boys were a 1980s hard rock/heavy metal group from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland featuring the three McManus brothers Pat, a.k.a. 'The Professor", (guitar and occasionally fiddle), John (bass and vocals), Tommy (drums). out of the nest. This involves getting them to fall in love with her. But Paula has a strict rule against any sex with her clients' sons. This, in a bent way, makes her perfect for Tripp, right? And wouldn't you know, the two of them do genuinely fall in love. Then have sex. Which, of course, ruins everything. Well, that and the whole thing about his parents paying her, and all the other lies, and one of his friends betraying Tripp in order to get in the pants of Paula's sarcastic sar·cas·tic adj. 1. Expressing or marked by sarcasm. 2. Given to using sarcasm. [sarc(asm) + -astic, as in enthusiastic. , hard- drinking roommate Kit (Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (born January 17, 1980) is an American actress. Biography Early life Deschanel was born in Los Angeles, California, and brought up in various international locations because of her father's work. ). She would be the only actually funny person in the movie if we hadn't already seen this deadpan snot-girl routine of hers in ``Elf elf, in Germanic mythology, a type of fairy. Usually represented as tiny people, elves are said to dwell in forests, in the sea, and in the air. Although they can be friendly to man, they are more frequently vengeful and mischievous. ,'' ``Big Trouble,'' ``The Good Girl'' and elsewhere). Yes, this is the most distasteful romantic-comedy idea since ``How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'' - which starred, come to think of it, McConaughey. As for Parker, you'll find more emotional honesty between two commercial breaks on any given ``Sex and the City'' rerun re·run n. The act or an instance of rebroadcasting a recorded movie or a recorded television performance. tr.v. re·ran , re·run, re·run·ning, re·runs To present a rerun of. than you will in this entire movie. More laughs, too. Unless the sight of an aged sports broadcaster feeding fish in the nude is your idea of hilarity. In that case, you probably won't find anything else about ``Failure to Launch'' disturbing, either. Or maybe you just live with your parents. Bob Strauss, (818) 713-3670 bob.strauss(at)dailynews.com FAILURE TO LAUNCH - One and one half stars (PG-13: sex, nudity, language) Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel,Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper, Terry Bradshaw, Kathy Bates. Director: Tom Dey. Running time: 1 hr. 36 min. Playing: In wide release. In a nutshell nut·shell n. The shell enclosing the meat of a nut. Idiom: in a nutshell In a few words; concisely: Just give me the facts in a nutshell. Adv. 1. : 35-year-old man won't move out of his parents' house, so they hire a woman to pretend to fall in love with him and ... can't continue,too many brain cells already destroyed. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), hired to get Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) out of his parents' house, falls in love with him despite her own rules prohibiting this in ``Failure to Launch.'' |
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