dir. Tom Dey
Pretty much nothing about Failure to Launch adds up to a coherent message. It’s firmly suggested that a grown man living at home is a pathetic waste of space, but then it’s acknowledged he may have a decent reason for doing so, like grief. But then he’s encouraged to move out anyway. It’s suggested it’s manipulative and deceitful to feign a relationship with a man for money, but then the film pleads that perhaps the woman had an emotional backstory that fairly assuages her guilt for doing so. So it’s all fine, really. The whole thing is just a bit nothingy – two people meet under false pretences, grow genuinely close, then the false pretences are exposed for a third act conflict, then they reconcile and all is fine. No point, no purpose, no message. Failure to Launch decisively fails to launch.
BMDb 