Failure to Launch
Paramount Pictures | Release Date: March 10, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
47
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 31 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
16
Negative:
8
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
New York PostKyle Smith
This is a guy comedy being mismarketed as a chick flick, complete with a poster that looks like a page from Lucky magazine. Read full review
80
Washington PostStephen Hunter
The movie is one of the best American films in months and months and the best comedy since I don't know when. It even makes you sorta kinda like Matthew McConaughey. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
"The Family Stone" did nothing for Parker, but Failure to Launch makes a strong case for life after "Sex and the City." Read full review
75
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
There's comfort in seeing actors we know doing what we've come to expect them to do. But more important, the film surrounds them with supporting characters who are less familiar to us, who act in ways we don't expect. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The movie brings to mind the more polite parts of "Wedding Crashers." Failure to Launch, while totally exuberant and appealingly made, is not nearly as randy. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Bradshaw, who is funnier than you might suspect, also turns out to be the most fearless of performers. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
That there's precious little chemistry between buffed-and-tanned stars Parker and McConaughey is only the first of this slight, overly busy film's problems. Read full review
60
VarietyBrian Lowry
An especially slight romantic comedy whose modest charms are derived largely from its supporting players. Read full review
60
The New York TimesStephen Holden
The movie has only the most tenuous connection with reality. But the same could be said of classic 30's screwball comedies in which the treacherous feints and ploys of the mating game are transmuted into witty, romantically charged repartee. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
McConaughey and Parker get stranded with thanklessly predictable scenes, while Zooey Deschanel, Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw garner the film's few laughs. Read full review
50
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Failure to Launch has all the gravitas of a midseason-replacement sitcom. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
If you like Kathy Bates movies, you'll probably be frustrated with this one, since as Tripp's mother, the invaluable character actress is made to whipsaw between playing sappy domestic slave to her son's laundry and salty, overly sexual wife. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Failure to Launch fails at more than just launching. It fails at romance and comedy. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Deschanel, as the token oddball of the gang, runs off with the movie. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Thanks largely to Ms. Parker and to the delectable Zooey Deschanel as her anhedonic house-mate, the filmmakers still manage to squeeze some juice out.
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Failure to Launch sounds like really bad Oscar Wilde, but it's not that good. You are not supposed to dislike anybody here. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesCarina Chocano
Matthew McConaughey and Sarah Jessica Parker look and act, quite attractively, like grown-ups, and their easy rapport makes them convincing and appealing as an on-screen couple. So all throughout Failure to Launch, I found myself wishing they were in a different movie, maybe one as sophisticated as "The Philadelphia Story," which the movie references, but doesn't remotely live up to. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
Suffers from the problem that plagues too many romantic comedies: The supporting characters are roughly 1,000 percent more interesting than the main characters. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Deschanel may not be as brilliant as the great comedian Gracie Allen (and, at any rate, it's too soon to tell). But her Rube Goldberg timing (which only seems indirect) and blissfully zonked demeanor suggest the spirit of Allen. She's the only actor in Failure to Launch who isn't earthbound; she leaves everyone else in the dust simply by hanging back. Read full review
50
PremiereAllison Williams
Though McConaughey has proven himself game for romantic comedy contrivance in the past, his charisma is all wrong for the immature Tripp. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
The only bright spot--beyond McConaughey's boyish Southern charm and a pleasant soundtrack--is Zooey Deschanel as Parker's acid-tongued roommate, whose quirks include alcoholism and nihilism. Someone really should tell Deschanel that she's already too big and too good for thankless Eve Arden roles. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Somehow the screwball concoction does not jell. The stars are pleasant but unexciting, the goofy ensemble has a few moments of hilarity but never catches fire, the laughs are very scattered and the film's title is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Read full review
40
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Even by the low standards of high-concept Hollywood rom-coms, this charmless, prophetically titled stinker stands apart, suggesting that the recent mass firings at studio Paramount may not have been such a bad idea after all. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Cursed with an honest title, Failure to Launch waves a white flag in scene after scene, declaring surrender. We give up! We do not know how to make a decent mainstream romantic comedy! Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Apocalyptically awful romantic comedy. Read full review
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
What's amazing is how far McConaughey carries this nonsense despite his total lack of chemistry with Parker and almost Zen-like indifference to his circumstances. Read full review
33
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Parker is bland throughout. Maybe all those episodes of "Sex and the City" have soured her on this sort of thing. Read full review
30
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The movie's notion of humor is exemplified by Bradshaw's extended nude scene, which might be termed "roughing the viewer." Read full review
30
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
A film that normally someone like Adam Sandler would star in, but for some reason Matthew McConaughey decided to star and show that he's still not funny. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
During the course of Failure to Launch, characters are bitten by a chipmunk, a dolphin, a lizard and a mockingbird. I am thinking my hardest why this is considered funny, and I confess defeat. Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia Puig
The premise is misbegotten, the chemistry non-existent and the dialogue leaden. Did we mention how tediously the plot unfolds? Read full review
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