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	“Failure to Launch”
	Reviewer:	Wayne Klein	Studio:	Paramount
	Genre:	Comedy	Release:	6/27/06
	Special Features:	“Casting Off: The Making of ‘Failure to Launch’, The ‘Failure to Launch’ Phenonmenon”, “Dating in the New Millennium”, Moviefone.com Unscripted Interview with Matthew McConaughey and Terry Bradshaw, “The ‘Failure to Launch’ Contest” featurette, theatrical trailer, previews
Review:	Romantic comedies are by their nature predictable. What makes them a success or failure (as with action movies) is how inventive the writers/directors/producers are and what the cast brings to the performances. “Failure to Launch” is an enjoyable and entertaining romantic comedy in the mold of Nora Ephron’s films although it lacks the cheeky inventiveness that bring a spark to her films. Nevertheless the winning performances and chemistry of the two leads Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker help propel this film when the comedy is still trapped in its berth. * Trip (McConaughey) is 35 sells boats for a living and lives at home with his parents (Oscar winner Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw—yep the former Pittsburg Steeler in his second acting role). They’re ready for empty nest syndrome so they hire Paula (Parker) who provides men with the self confidence to take that first step out the door by dating them. Paula isn’t a hooker she doesn’t sleep with her clients but makes the fatal mistake of falling for Trip and therein lays the comedic conflict of the film. Trip’s buddies Demo (Bradley Cooper from “Alias”) and Ace (Justin Bartha from “National Treasure”) are eventually clued in on what’s going on and, in fact, Ace uses it to his advantage to move on Kit (the enchanting Zooey Deschanel) Paula’s sister in the process. Paula must somehow disengage without “tripping” her clients and moving Trip forward. Image & Sound:** “Failure” doesn’t take on in water in the transfer department with a clean, crisp colorful transfer that does a marvelous job of capturing the look of the original theatrical presentation of the film. The film is available in two separate editions a widescreen and full screen presentation. I watched the widescreen presentation enhanced for 16x9 Televisions. The other part of this film that probably could have used a flotation device is the sound mix. While it sounds fine particularly during the brief action sequences the sound is rather passive the rest of the time. It’s not a surprise given that this is a dialogue driven romantic comedy but I did expect better use of ambient sounds in the surround speakers. ---
Special Features:	We get a solid “making of” featurette. The highlight though is the featurette on the real life “Failure to Launches”, i.e. boomers that are still living with their parents in their late 20’s and even into their 30’s. This phenomenon is caused by the work environment, unclear career paths, the unaffordable housing all which are becoming increasingly an issue in the United States as manufacturing jobs dry up. While this featurette does look at some of the emotional issues related to it this phenomenon its pretty light much like the film. This is a real socioeconomic issue within America . We also have a featurette that focuses on line dating and the various ways singles meet today. There’s a featurette related to a contest associated with the film. Partic ipants live at home and they need to give the best reasons why they should be given six months rent and the money to move out of the house. This is hosted by co-stars Cooper and Bartha. We get the trailer and previews as well. Finally there’s a “Moviefone” featurette with McConaughey and Bradshaw take questions off the internet (this was original presented on the internet and shot specifically for this DVD set) and each other about the film. ---
Final Words:	While “Failure to Launch” isn’t a complete success it does get out to sea on the strength of a number of winning performances and an entertaining if predictable script. Romantic comedies tend to be formula pictures much like other genre films and the success or failure of these films are tied to how innovative the film is. The film isn’t a “failure” but it could have used a bit more wind to puff up its sails and make it a stronger more memorable film. "Failure to Launch" is worth a rental.