Failure on all counts

Failure To Launch is a romantic comedy that fails at romance and comedy.

Matthew McConaughey plays Trip, a lazy, obnoxious 35-year-old layabout who still lives with his parents (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw).

They want to get rid of him, but instead of doing the sensible thing and telling him to clear off, they hire professional 'interventionist' Sarah Jessica Parker to get him to move out. And guess who then falls in love?

The boring, self-absorbed hero and heroine lack energy and don't appear to like, still less feel passionately about, each other. Come to think of it, I didn't like them either.

The film is rendered less intolerable by the supporting cast, especially the reliably wonderful Zooey Deschanel.

She plays Parker's acid-tongued flatmate who's well on her way to becoming an alcoholic nihilist.

After suffering through this, I was well on the way to joining her.

Failure To Launch
Cert: 12A