DVD Review: "Failure to Launch" ,Starring McConaughey and Parker

A well-meaning romantic comedy, Failure to Launch (directed by Tom Dey) straddles all-too familiar ground.

Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) is a 35-year-old adult who still lives at home with his mom and dad (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw). And why should he move out when his mother still irons his clothes and fixes breakfast every morning?

Out of concern, his parents decide to give a loving push to get their son to move out of the house; they hire a woman to date him. Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) is a professional "interventionist" whose male clients are typically bookish and uncharming. Tripp, however, presents Paula with an ethical quandary. In predictable fashion, she sees desirable qualities in Tripp and falls for him, despite the fact that he has never emptied the nest. Paula's eccentric roommate (Zooey Deschanel) intervenes and questions Paula's morals. Is it acceptable for her to really date and fall in love with a client?

Here's where the storyline becomes instantly recognizable. (Flashback: McConaughey fans will remember the how he made a bet on falling in love in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days as well as the sticky interference between business and romance in The Wedding Planner.) Paula must tell Tripp her true feelings and reveal a secret (that she was hired by his parents to date him), but will the opportune moment come before it is too late? Of course not. Then the question becomes: Will Tripp give the woman who has knowingly deceived him a second chance? Will Paula find the courage to put her heart on the line, or will she give up on love and perhaps, in a twist of irony, move back home to live with her own parents?

The leads give standard performances, and the film is wrought with cheap humor based off of silly animal antics rather than intelligent character development or true situational comedy. This movie is no different than any chick-flick that has followed this predictable pattern (involving a bet or business transaction for love) for the last 10 years. But it will sell like hotcakes on DVD, because of its attractive headliners, McConaughey and Parker. Or maybe people just want to see Terry Bradshaw naked.