There have been articles in USA Today, The New York Times, Newsweek, and other periodicals about a phenomenon in which young men continue to live at home with their parents into their late 20s and 30s. These guys have been called "adultescents" and the "boomerang generation." They feel quite secure on home turf. Mom is there is to cook, clean and take care of them; Dad handles other adult responsibilities. And there's no rent to pay. This is the backstory for Failure to Launch, a frolicsome comedy directed by Tom Dey and written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember.
Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) is 35 and still lives at home with his parents, Sue (Kathy Bates) and Al (Terry Bradshaw). Mom makes his bed, washes and irons his clothes, and cooks him pancakes for breakfast as if he were an eternal 12 year old. Tripp has a no pressure job as a boat broker and spends a lot of time with Demo (Bradley Cooper) and Ace (Justin Bertha), two slackers just like him who also live at home.
Then Tripp's parents hear about Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), a professional consultant who has created a niche job helping frustrated parents launch their adult children into the real world of responsibility. The idea is for her to date the young man until he bonds with her instead of his parents. Sue and Al hire her to do her thing with hopes that they can finally enjoy the pleasures of an empty nest.
Paula arranges a cute meeting in a furniture store and proceeds to tick off the steps of her intervention. On a few dinner dates, she impresses Tripp with her beauty and exuberance. Next she is a hit with Demo and Ace. But when Tripp learns the truth about what is happening, he is devastated. Paula has her own crisis when she realizes she is falling in love with her client. Her perky and oddball roommate, Kit (Zooey Deschanel), is rooting for her to wake up and smell the roses. It appears both Paula and Tripp have some growing up to do for an adult relationship.
Although this film has many familiar elements from other romantic comedies, one of the cleverest conceits has to do with Tripp's propensity for getting bitten by wild animals: a chipmunk, a dolphin, and a lizard. Why is this happening to him? One of his buddies suggests that it must be nature rejecting him because he's going against the natural order of things, which is to find a lover and stay with her. That's a nice spiritual lesson: the whole world does conspire to help us find a soulmate and play out our destiny. Sometimes we just need a little help noticing.
Special DVD features include: "Casting off: the Making of Failure to Launch"; The Failure to Launch phenomenon; dating in the new millennium; unscripted conversation with actors Matthew McConaughey and Terry Bradshaw; and the Failure to Launch contest.
