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'Failure to Launch': It's about stars, not story

Just like Jon Stewart jokingly said of George Clooney at the Oscars, Tripp (Matthew McConaughey) is a good-night-and-good-luck kinda guy. When a woman gets too interested, he brings her home for a romantic evening ... where she quickly discovers he still lives with his parents, Sue and Al (Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw, made for each other).

Paramount Pictures 'Failure to Launch' C+ The verdict: The stars don't fail, the story does. Director: Tom Dey Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Sarah Jessica Parker, Zooey Deschanel, Justin Bartha, Bradley Cooper Run time: 97 minutes Release date: March 10, 2006 Rating: PG-13 for sexual content, partial nudity and language. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate 'Failure to Launch'   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

That's the setup for "Failure to Launch," a romantic comedy that fails to live up to its potential yet still manages to flounder about appealingly. Desperate to get their bouncing baby 30something out of the house, Sue and Al hire Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker), a "professional interventionist." She's like a horse whisperer, except her patients are stay-at-home guys. She promises she'll have Tripp out on his own in three months. What she doesn't count on is, well, he's drop-dead gorgeous Matthew McConaughey, not the usual "losers and shut-ins" who typically make up her clientele.

Paula's job is amusingly delineated — almost like a 12-step process. There's Emotional Crisis Day. Getting the Nod (of approval from his pals). "I think tomorrow I'm going to let him teach me something," she tells her slacker/Goth roomie Kit (a scene-stealing Zooey Deschanel affecting a "Ghost World" disconnect), ticking it off like it was time to test him on parallel parking.

"Failure to Launch" recalls "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" (also starring McConaughey), another romantic comedy with an intricately conceived complication. The new picture can be far-fetched, but then so was last summer's hilarious "The 40-Year-Old Virgin."

This film isn't as good. For one thing, it's much more formulaic. For another, McConaughey's "entourage" isn't as amusing. Playing fellow, well, at-home boys, Justin Bartha and Bradley Cooper seem intimidated by sharing scenes with the Sexiest Man Alive.

Luckily, Parker isn't. Cute, comic, confident and just a tad neurotic, she taps into the sexy yet vulnerable appeal she peddled so successfully on "Sex and the City." Frankly, it isn't a perfect fit with her co-star's brand of laid-back Southern-boy sexiness. In lieu of having chemistry, the two act chemistry. And they pull it off pretty well.

The film would fare better if it focused more on Parker's character — think Jennifer Lopez in "The Wedding Planner," which co-starred ... um, McConaughey — and jettisoned some of the stupid pet tricks involving aggressive chipmunks and the like. A transparent this-is-not-just-a-chick-flick tactic, these scenes simply don't work.

In one tantalizing scene, Paula is doing a job on, well, a loser/shut-in who's obviously stunned by this blond whirlwind's attention. "You're smart. You're attractive," she coos to the poor schlub. "And you love the original 'Star Wars' trilogy because it's about story."

"Failure to Launch" isn't about story. It's about star power. Adjust your expectations accordingly.