I was home one night and planned on watching the immortal classic The Shop Around The Corner for the 20th time on TCM. I decided that the 21st time was even too many times for me. So I decided to give this film a try because I saw Bradley Cooper was in it and I thought he was quite good in The Elephant Man on stage, The Silver Lining Playbook and American Hustle. I could not believe how horrible this film is. I am embarrassed that I live in a world where folks liked this. The script was stupid. The acting, particularly Bradley Cooper, Zooey Deschanel and Jason Bartha were painfully bad. I kept on watching it because Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates actually were terrific and the NY Mets had already won their game. The Shop Around the Corner is a great romantic comedy. Failure to Launch is as we say in NYC, shtick dreck. Go to the Urban Dictionary and look up the expression.

Looking back at this now, you can sense that Matthew McConaughey realised his days as a lead in light romantic comedies would eventually be numbered. There is only so much much mileage in the slightly arrogant, selfish 30 something sports jock with an easy charm for the ladies and bonhomie with his male friends. It all got cheesy very quickly.Sarah Jessica Parker is Paula whose job is to date men who still live with their parents and are reluctant to leave home. By getting them to transfer their allegiance from the parents to her, they will then be willing to fly the nest.Tripp (McConaughey) is proud to be living in his parent's house. His two best friends Bradley Cooper and Justin Bartha (both from the 'Hangover' films) also live with their parents as well. Paula is hired by his exasperated parents. It seems this is easier than saying 'son, its time you left.'Tripp is unlike other clients Paula has dealt with, charming, handsome, athletic, normal social skills, no low esteem and she ends up falling for him.Its a light plot and a flimsy story which becomes increasingly silly and unbelievable. The side plot involving Tripp's friends where they go paint-balling, rock climbing, mountain biking and incidents with various animals tends to be more amusing and pads out the movie. I bet the director now wishes he had more scenes with Cooper in the film.Zooey Deschanel as Paula's acerbic roommate is more memorable than Sarah Jessica Parker and her budding romance with Bartha looks more interesting.The film eventually ties itself up in knots, literally in order to come to a satisfying conclusion to satisfy the romantic comedy conventions.

Failure to Launch (2006)Another decent but sometimes strained interference with love film. I can think of two more classic recent ones, "Hitch" and "Heartbreaker," and this doesn't rise to those modest heights.The impressive star of the two leads is the lesser name, charming and gorgeous Matthew McConaughey, who is not just believable but also compelling (which is something different). Across from him is the Sex and the City mega-star, Sarah Jessica Parker, who is good, and who does the job as a would-be pretend girlfriend who really does fall in love. Or not. You'll see.The whole hook is an obvious one--first the woman is hired to make the man fall enough in love with him that he'll finally move out of his parents house. Then she'll collect her fee and boogie. But no, we know from the get-go, as with any screwball comedy, that the two leads are destined to be together. But when one learns the other's secret, what true love there was goes on the rocks. This is exactly what the other two films (above) did, and I'm sure it's a burgeoning new genre.What drags it down a bit are the side plots and side characters. Many of these are good or even terrific one way or another, but it's all patched together and a little lightweight and thin. The best of these is Parker's roommate, played with Oscar-worthy dreariness by Zooey Deschanel (who also appeared in "(500) Days of Summer"). But the sideshows of the mockingbird, the biting dolphin, and even the baroque arrangement with the t.v. monitors in the final scenes are all a little clunky. Good on paper, maybe, but in the end you have to make yourself enjoy the best of it all, which will make you laugh and have fun.

With this title it could be an exciting story of th space Race or how rocket meets a deadline or something like Apollo 13. Instead its a romantic comedy that isn't dreadful but very very annoying that I spent 2 hours of my life on this mediocrity which I can't get back.If something is really bad I can enjoy its poor quality or unintended laughter but this is just ho-hum, dull! The cast are clearly trying to make th best of it they really wan th e the film to succeed and I can see they are enjoying making this movie; they all put in a good performance. But in th end it look like a TV movie with a big budget; it doesn't have the feeling of a feature film.Sarah Jessica Parker is in it showing there is more to her than Sex and the City. In fact watch that instead of this its just disappointing.