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Failure to Launch
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 Failure to Launch Production NotesTagline: To leave the nest, some men just need a little push.
Tripp (Matthew McConaughey), 35, has never been able to leave the nest. Now, his desperate parents have had enough. They hire the gorgeous and talented girl of his dreams (Sarah Jessica Parker) to get him to move out of the house.
According to Matthew McConaughey, the star of the new romantic comedy “Failure to Launch,” his character, Tripp, has practical reasons for being a 35-year-old, all-American guy who's never moved out of his parents' house. “As far as Tripp's concerned, you don't fix what isn't broken,” he says. “It's free, he's got a great room, and mom does the laundry. It's a great hotel.”
Everything changes for Tripp when he meets Paula. She's everything that Tripp's looking for: smart, funny, talented, and beautiful. What Tripp doesn't know is that there's a good reason she's so perfect: a professional consultant, Paula has been hired by his parents to lure him out of the house.
“On paper, Tripp's case seems open-and-shut,” says Sarah Jessica Parker, who plays Paula. “Of course, when she meets him, that proves not to be the case. She finds a well-adjusted, educated, perfectly normal guy who's 50 billion times more handsome than her other clients, but for some reason, he just can't get out the door.”
Recently named People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive, McConaughey notes that his character's predicament reflects the reality for many twenty- and thirtysomethings in America today. “It's a social phenomenon: even though kids are getting older, they aren't moving out,” he notes.
“I read a lot of articles about this trend before making the movie,” says director Tom Dey. “It was very funny to discover these new sociological terms that apply to adult children still living at home: `adultescents,' `the boomerang generation,' `failure to launch,' etc. I also like the fact that it's a universal phenomenon - everyone knows somebody who's still living at home well past the age when most people move out. My hope is that we've been able to tap into the funny bone of this familial trend.”
“I have several neighbors who have adult children who now live with them,” remarks Ember. “I found it interesting and was surprised when I found out that it's becoming the norm.”
“We started talking about this idea of adults living at home with their parents and how the situation would impact everyone involved,” adds Astle. “We always wondered how would you get them out of the house. Then, we complicated matters by introducing the haphazard world of dating into the mix and it worked. It turned out to be a funny, timely idea for a comedy.”
For Dey, “Failure to Launch” presented a great opportunity to make a romantic comedy that could work on several levels at once. “It has a very classic, almost Billy Wilder-esque set-up in that the central relationship is based on a deceit. But there's a turn in the movie where it begins to operate on a deeper emotional level. These variations in tone from comedy to drama make for a very enjoyable story to watch. For example, toward the end of the film, there's a scene at a dinner table in which Tripp has a bomb to drop. The tension and humor builds; as Tripp pulls the rug out from underneath the people who have deceived him, his emotional pain registers underneath the comedy.”
Battle of the Sexes
Director Tom Dey says that much of the fun of “Failure to Launch” stems from the chemistry and confrontations between Tripp and Paula. “Tripp isn't passive about the fact that he lives at home - he champions not having left the nest! Conversely, Paula knows that `failure to launch' is a real problem - and she's the cure. The more each character is convinced of his or her point of view, the more sparks fly between them.”
“Tripp and Paula are like two heavyweight fighters,” says Matthew McConaughey. “These two spar, they dance around, they give as good as they get. For Tripp and Paula, they like to make the other the butt of the joke, but they also like to be the butt of the joke.”
Sarah Jessica Parker agrees. “They've both found a way not to let love in,” she says, “so it's only right that these two should have to duke it out.”
McConaughey notes that while it's never a good plan to build a relationship on a lie - like, for example, you've been hired by your boyfriend's parents to get him to move out - it does provide an opportunity to surprise your significant other. “She keeps the honeymoon period going,” notes McConaughey, “which is exactly what Tripp is looking for. Everyone else he's ever taken home has been out the door the moment they see the parents. Because she needs to keep the relationship going, she doesn't let it faze her. That knocks Tripp off-balance and intrigues him - right up until he finds out her secret.”
Parker adds that it's Tripp and Paula's attempts to out-maneuver each other that causes their mutual attraction to snowball. “In some ways, the romance is effortless,” she says. “They're each trying to one-up the other, show the other the best they have to offer - in other words, dating. Up to this point, both have been experts in keeping their attractions in check, but this time, it gets completely out of their control.
“Both characters have fabricated elaborate lifestyles in order to protect themselves to being hurt again,” adds Dey. “That's what makes them so perfect for each other - they're cruising through life thinking they have it all worked out, until one day they collide and expose each other's blind spot. They've pushed aside the possibility of ever falling in love again, but that's the one thing in life that can't be pushed aside. By the end of the film, they've forced each other to take that leap.”
McConaughey always saw Tripp as a fun-loving character, not as an anti-social loner or slacker mooching off his parents. A big-hearted, red-blooded guy, Tripp's got it all figured out, from a career that allows him to indulge in his passion for sailing, to living at home, which allows him a nice place to live and home-cooked meals with his parents. “There's no reason to change,” says McConaughey.
“Tripp doesn't want to leave the cushy nest,” says Oscar-winner Kathy Bates, who plays Sue, Tripp's mom. “Sue does everything for him: she fixes his breakfast every morning, she does his laundry, she keeps his room clean. He's really got it great.”
Tripp's whole point of view changes when Paula enters his life. “This is uncharted territory for Tripp,” explains McConaughey. “He's intrigued by Paula. It's the first time in a while that he considers the possibilities beyond this stage and is open to whatever happens.”
“There are not a lot of actors who would embrace this situation as Matthew did,” says Dey. “He's brings a unique skill set to the equation, in that he's an ideal romantic leading man who's not afraid to embrace a kind of Huck-Finn boyishness. That was essential for making Tripp a believable character. His embodiment of the role also creates an interesting question: why is the `sexiest man alive' still living at home?”
“Matthew's the handsomest guy in the world,” says Justin Bartha, who plays Tripp's friend since childhood, Ace. “Every woman in the world wants to be with him and every guy wants to hang out with him. But he's also a really interesting actor - he really gets into this guy; you feel for his character, even though he still lives at home.”
“Matthew has that easy-breezy attitude - he loves life and loves people,” says Parker. “His attitude is perfect for Tripp, a guy who just rides the wave, finding everything suitable, until he realizes that he could have a lot more.”
Parker's character honestly believes that she's contributing to “the greater good, if you can believe that,” says the actress, who recently completed a seven-season run in the critically acclaimed HBO series, “Sex and the City.” “She thinks she's this prudent, wise businesswoman, but she finds that love can sometimes get in the way of career opportunities.
“It's something of an epidemic - young men and not-so-young men living at home,” says Parker of the film's central concept. “I enjoyed the fact that the comedy in this movie stems from that real phenomenon.”
Parker was also attracted to the role by the chance to do something different: in this case, ditch her Manolos for a black bodysuit and the chance to show off her paintball skills. “Actually, I've never played paintball before, and I'll never do it again,” she laughs. “It's the great part of my job - you can try something once and you never have to do it again.”
“Sarah Jessica does it all so effortlessly,” says Matthew McConaughey. “She is clever with her choices and has great comedic timing. It's been an amazing experience for me.
“She can do it all,” McConaughey continues. “She's very girly and sophisticated, but she also smart and clever when it comes to comedy. She's manicured and mischievous.”
“Sarah Jessica is a master of the craft,” says Dey. “She's incredibly gifted as a physical and verbal comedienne, and her confidence lends utter credibility to this crazy job she has. She's one of the few actors who can walk this tightrope of farce and still keep it funny and real.”
Together, says Dey, the chemistry between the two leads is palpable. “Matthew and Sarah Jessica are very bright lights,” he says. “When they're on screen together smiling, you want to smile too. It's an involuntary response that speaks volumes about their likeability.”
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Matthew McConaughey as Tripp and Sarah Jessica Parker as Paula in Failure to Launch.
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