''Failure to Launch'' is a 2006

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Tom Dey Thomas Ridgeway Dey (born April 14, 1965) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His credits include ''Shanghai Noon'', ''Showtime'', ''Failure to Launch'', and ''Marmaduke''. Early life Dey was born in Hanover, New Hampshire ...

, and starring

Matthew McConaughey Matthew David McConaughey ( ; born November 4, 1969) is an American actor. He had his breakout role with a supporting performance in the coming-of-age comedy '' Dazed and Confused'' (1993). After a number of supporting roles, his first succes ...

and

Sarah Jessica Parker Sarah Jessica Parker (born March 25, 1965) is an American actress and television producer. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including six Golden Globe Awards and two Primetime Emmy Awards. ''Time'' magazine named her one of the 1 ...

. The film focuses on a 35-year-old man living with his parents who shows no interest in leaving the comfortable life that they, especially his mother, have made for him. It was released on March 10, 2006, and grossed over $128 million.

Plot

35-year-old Tripp still lives with his parents Al and Sue in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. His best friends Demo and Ace also still live in their parents' homes and seem proud of it. Tripp has many casual girlfriends. When he’s tired of them, he invites them to “his place"—and when they realize he still lives at home, they promptly dump him. Al and Sue are fascinated when their friends, whose adult son recently left home, reveal they hired an expert to get him to move out. The expert is Paula, who believes that men continue to live at home because they have low self-esteem. Her approach is to establish a relationship with the man to build his confidence, then transfer his attachment from his parents to her. However, Tripp does not fit her previous profiles, as he has normal social skills, good self-esteem, and a good job he enjoys. After an awkward encounter with his parents, Paula thwarts Tripp's attempt to dump her and has sex with him, while developing real feelings. She and Tripp find themselves in unfamiliar waters and confide in their friends. Paula's vocation exasperates her roommate Kit, who thinks Paula took the job because a man broke her heart who lived with his parents. She is shocked to learn why Tripp lives at home: His life collapsed when his fiancée suddenly died, and his family has been his solace ever since. Ace discovers what is going on and blackmails Paula for a date with Kit. Although Kit is more attracted to Demo, she and Ace wind up falling in love. Ace then "outs" Paula to Demo, who then tells all to Tripp. Tripp angrily confronts his parents and breaks up with Paula. Wracked with guilt, Paula refunds Al's and Sue's money. After an awkward confrontation, Tripp forgives his parents, but can't forgive Paula. Tripp's parents and friends devise a plan to reconcile the two. They tie up and gag him, locking him and Paula together in a room. Paula pours her heart out, and he finally forgives her. The film ends with Al and Sue in their

empty nest ''Empty Nest'' is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from October 8, 1988, to April 29, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred Ric ...

, happily singing "Hit the Road, Tripp". This fades into the closing credits over the Ray Charles song "Hit the Road, Jack", and we see Tripp and Paula sail away on his newly purchased boat.

Cast

as Tripp *

as Paula *

Zooey Deschanel Zooey Claire Deschanel (; born January 17, 1980) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She made her film debut in '' Mumford'' (1999) and had a supporting role in Cameron Crowe's film ''Almost Famous'' (2000). Deschanel is known for he ...

as Katherine "Kit" *

Justin Bartha Justin Lee Bartha (born July 21, 1978) is an American actor, known for his roles as Riley Poole in the ''National Treasure'' film series, Doug Billings in ''The Hangover'' trilogy, and David Sawyer in the NBC comedy series '' The New Normal''. ...

as Philip "Ace" *

Bradley Cooper Bradley Charles Cooper (born January 5, 1975) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and two Grammy Awards, in addition to nominations for nine Academy Awards, si ...

as Demo *

Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the National Football League (NFL). Since 1994, he has been a television sports analyst an ...

as Al *

Kathy Bates Kathleen Doyle Bates (born June 28, 1948) is an American actor and director. Known for her roles in comedic and dramatic films and television programs, she has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over five decades, includ ...

as Sue *

Adam Alexi-Malle Adam Alexi-Malle is an Italian actor, singer, dancer and musician. Life and career Alexi-Malle was born in Siena, Italy. His father is from Italy ( Sardinian) and his mother is Palestinian-Spanish. They emigrated to London, England first, and la ...

as Mr. Axelrod *

Tyrel Jackson Williams Tyrel Jackson Williams (born March 16, 1997) is an American actor. He starred as Leo Dooley in the Disney XD series ''Lab Rats''. Williams also co-starred in the 2014 Disney XD television film '' Pants on Fire''. From 2017 to 2020 he co-starred ...

as Jeffrey *

Katheryn Winnick Katheryn Winnick (born December 17, 1977) is a Canadian actress. She is known for her starring roles in the television series ''Vikings'' (2013–2020), ''Wu Assassins'' (2019), and '' Big Sky'' (2020–present), and her recurring role on the tele ...

as Melissa *

Rob Corddry Robert William Corddry (born February 4, 1971) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his work as a correspondent on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' (2002–2006) and for his starring role in the film ''Hot Tub Time Machine''. He ...

as Gun Salesman *

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

as Techie Guy *

Mageina Tovah Mageina Tovah (born July 26, 1979) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Glynis Figliola in the television series ''Joan of Arcadia'' (2003–2005), as Ursula Ditkovich in Sam Raimi's ''Spider-Man'' trilogy and Zelda Schif ...

as Barista *

Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American character actor. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in ''Groundhog Day'' and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in '' Memento'', as well as such television characters as ...

as Bud * Kate McGregor-Stewart as Bev

Production

The rock climbing scenes were filmed in Cherokee Rock Village in

Leesburg, Alabama Leesburg is a town in Cherokee County, Alabama, United States. At the 2020 census, the population was 911. History Leesburg was originally called Hamptonville; it was named for Joseph Hampton and the Henslee family respectively. A post office was ...

Release

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $24.6 million, ranking first in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

box office A box office or ticket office is a place where ticket (admission), tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through a hole in a wall or window, or at a Wicket gate, wicke ...

results for that weekend. The film grossed a total of $88.7 million in the United States box office and made $128,406,887 worldwide.

Reception

The film received negative reviews from critics. , the film holds a 23% approval rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 152 reviews with an average rating of 4.6/10. The site's consensus states: "The few comic gags sprinkled throughout the movie fail to spice up this formulaic rom-com."

Film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: journalistic criticism that appears regularly in newspapers, magazines and other popular mass-media outlets ...

Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...

stated the film was "completely unbelievable". Some otherwise negative reviews singled out

's performance as the film's highlight.

Stephanie Zacharek Stephanie Zacharek is an American film critic at ''Time'', based in New York City. From 2013 to 2015, she was the principal film critic for ''The Village Voice''. She was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist in criticism. Early life Stephanie Zachare ...

of ''

Salon Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (P ...

'' wrote that "Even with a relatively small role, she blows the whole movie to smithereens". Audiences polled by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Failure To Launch 2006 films American romantic comedy films Films directed by Tom Dey Paramount Pictures films 2006 romantic comedy films Films shot in Maryland Films shot in Delaware Films shot in Louisiana Films produced by Scott Rudin Films scored by Rolfe Kent 2000s English-language films 2000s American films