There really is a phenomenon where men well into their 30s have yet to leave the nest, and this concept is long overdue for a romantic comedy treatment. But Failure to Launch opts to take this premise in a bizarre direction.
Matthew McConaughey plays a developmentally challenged young man, Tripp, who continues to cohabit with his parents because it's a surefire way to break up with women once they become undesirably clingy. Tripp is curiously unaware that there are plenty of shallow womanizers out there who manage to break up after a one-night stand without their fathers bursting in on them in the morning. So he sticks to this method, which is becoming increasingly bothersome for his mother (Kathy Bates) and father (Terry Bradshaw). And since his parents are curiously incapable of pulling together the words, "You're 35 now, so get out of our house," they're in desperate need of some alternative, contrived solution.
Enter Paula (Parker), a woman who professionally extricates reluctant fledglings from the nest by making them fall in love with her. She claims to have a scientific formula for romance, but what she really has is the formula for romantic comedies—one we're all too familiar with. All the usual rom-com plot points pepper Tripp and Paula's dates as they try to manipulate each other as intended, but really fall in love. The only difference is that, since Paula is deliberately following a formula within the film, she more or less announces her intention to perform each clichéd action before she does it.
Now, if Paula were as much an expert as the rest of us, she wouldn't be so surprised when Tripp discovers her deceit and holds it against her even though she truly does love him. Nor would she be so upset about it if she knew, as we do, that Tripp will eventually come around, against all probability, so that love prevails.
There have been formulaic entries in this genre that work, but McConaughey and Parker don't do much to enliven the tired material. Unless you simply enjoy watching pretty people with great tans flirt, it'll feel like a long haul from one inevitable plot point to the next.
In an attempt to compensate for this, the movie throws in several zany characters and incongruous slapstick moments. Scenes in which Tripp is attacked by a chipmunk, a dolphin and a vegetarian lizard are downright embarrassing (though the ultimate explanation for these events is just ridiculous enough to be funny). Zooey Deschanel is frequently amusing as Paula's quirky roommate, with a vendetta against a neighboring mockingbird, but even her oddball antics occasionally ring of desperation. And when Bradshaw bares his pasty white cheeks, you'll know just how low this film is willing to sink for even the cheapest of laughs. And by then, it'll be too late.
If you were considering seeing this formulaic bore, you might want to heed Tripp's advice instead: Don't leave home.