’Failure to launch’ is a clean little drollery that unwinds itself breezily, and with aplomb. It is particularly likeable for how it maintains the flow, between its central and support characters, striking a balance across the two, to extract its laughs and its appeal.
The script, the dialogue, the characterization, and the performances are effective enough to keep one engaged, and smiling throughout, reacting rather credulously to its well-knit content.
As for the story, Tripp is a 35-year old kid who is just too happy living with his parents. And, the poor parents are forced into hiring the services of Paula, an ’interventionist’, to get him out of there and on his own. But, Paula doesn’t realize till very late that she signed up for a rather tricky and perfidious mission.
The outdoor scenes couldn’t have been more representative of summertime. The crisp photography does a good job of capturing the fun element in paintball shooting, bike riding, rock climbing and sailing. The animal bite accidents that accident-prone Tripp runs into, while corny and predictable, are well picturized.
Sarah Jessica Parker, Matthew McConaughey, Kathy Bates, and Terry Bradshaw do well in their respective roles, but it is Zooey Deschanel who steals the show with her rather amusing and zany portrayal of Kit, the roommate of Paula. The cold and suggestive stares she often gives, before she is about do or say something quite cagey, are well engineered and executed. And, so are her exigencies with the neighborhood mocking bird.
Kudos to director Tom Dey, script writers Tom Astle and Matt Ember, and cinematographer Claudio Miranda!