History Film / FailureToLaunch

* PlayingWithATrope: Really at the heart of the movie, as the entire plot revolves around Paula's using romcom tropes to fake relationships, and other subversions and deconstructions naturally follow.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Tripp's fiance]].

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: The entire fake relationship between Tripp and Paula would have been avoided had Al and Sue simply told Paula about Tripp's fiancé. Sue even ''starts'' but decides not to follow through on it [[PoorCommunicationSkills for whatever reason]].

* BrokenAesop: The film seems to take a negative slant on adults who still live with their parents, to the point that Tripp is portrayed as an EnemyToAllLivingThings because he's "out of harmony with nature and nature knows it." Every other man in the situation [[OffOnATechnicality is exempt because there's some reason that makes it so they're not living with their parents]]. Even then Tripp is not portrayed as one of the more negative types of BasementDweller; he's not staying at home because he's lazy, immature and/or cowardly, he pays rent and the "vengeful nature" scenes aren't shown happening to any of the other live-in adults in the movie - yet he's the only one getting attacked by animals for it.

A 2006 romantic comedy starring Creator/SarahJessicaParker and Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, known if for any reason for a subplot with Creator/ZooeyDeschanel and Justin Bartha widely agreed to be far more interesting than the main plot. At 35, Tripp ([=McConaughey=]) has an interesting job, a hip car, a passion for sailing, and a great house - trouble is, he lives with his parents. They want him out, so they hire Paula (Parker), an "interventionist" who specializes in a phenomenon she calls "[[TitleDrop failure to launch]]", who pretends to date her clients' adult children to bolster their confidence and social skills (or maybe shame them) to get them to leave home. She has a simple formula: stage a quirky chance encounter, get him to ask her out, involve him in a trauma, meet his friends and get their nod, delay sex, have him teach her something, then launch him. It's worked up to now, but this gets complicated when Tripp thinks she's getting too serious and one of his pals is attracted to Paula's deadpan, semi-alcoholic roommate, who's plagued by a mockingbird. Too many secrets may scrub the launch, and what if Paula really likes him? Who can intervene then?

* StuffedIntoTheFridge: [[spoiler:Tripp's fiance]].

* CasualKink: A waitress at the end mentions that she wishes she could talk openly to a guy. When Kit says that it's easier when the guy is tied up the waitress mentions that she's talked to men who were tied up before.

* BasementDweller: Ace is presented this way at first, though as Kit gets to know him she finds out that he's actually living in an extension of his family's house and paying his mother rent while working on an internet startup. Paula's normal clientele seem to be mroe straightforward examples however.

* StuntCasting: There is no doubt that most of cast of ''Failure to Launch'' was massively overqualified for their tiny and/or poorly-written parts, perhaps most {{Egregious}}ly Creator/KathyBates as Bev, Tripp's mother, and Creator/BradleyCooper as Demo (though it is worth mentioning that in the latter case, this was a bit before he made it big).
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** The roles of Tripp and Paula were originally written for Zach Braff and Amanda Peet.
** Brooke Shields, Tori Spelling, and Creator/ReeseWitherspoon were all offered the role of Paula, but turned it down.

A 2006 romantic comedy starring Creator/SarahJessicaParker and Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, known if for any reason for a subplot with Creator/ZooeyDeschanel and Justin Bartha widely agreed to be far more interesting than the main plot. At 35, Tripp [=McConaughey=] has an interesting job, a hip car, a passion for sailing, and a great house - trouble is, he lives with his parents. They want him out, so they hire Paula (Parker), an "interventionist" who specializes in a phenomenon she calls "[[TitleDrop failure to launch]]", who pretends to date her clients' adult children to bolster their confidence and social skills (or maybe shame them) to get them to leave home. She has a simple formula: stage a quirky chance encounter, get him to ask her out, involve him in a trauma, meet his friends and get their nod, delay sex, have him teach her something, then launch him. It's worked up to now, but this gets complicated when Tripp thinks she's getting too serious and one of his pals is attracted to Paula's deadpan, semi-alcoholic roommate, who's plagued by a mockingbird. Too many secrets may scrub the launch, and what if Paula really likes him? Who can intervene then?

A 2006 romantic comedy starring Creator/SarahJessicaParker and Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, known if for any reason for a subplot with Creator/ZooeyDeschanel and Creator/JustinBartha widely agreed to be far more interesting than the main plot. At 35, Tripp ({{McConaughey}}) has an interesting job, a hip car, a passion for sailing, and a great house - trouble is, he lives with his parents. They want him out, so they hire Paula (Parker), an "interventionist" who specializes in a phenomenon she calls "[[TitleDrop failure to launch]]", who pretends to date her clients' adult children to bolster their confidence and social skills (or maybe shame them) to get them to leave home. She has a simple formula: stage a quirky chance encounter, get him to ask her out, involve him in a trauma, meet his friends and get their nod, delay sex, have him teach her something, then launch him. It's worked up to now, but this gets complicated when Tripp thinks she's getting too serious and one of his pals is attracted to Paula's deadpan, semi-alcoholic roommate, who's plagued by a mockingbird. Too many secrets may scrub the launch, and what if Paula really likes him? Who can intervene then?

* FriendToAllLivingCreatures: Demo, rather unlike Tripp.
* GeekReferencePools: Noticeable to a cringe-worthy degree when Paula is talking to another (supposedly extremely, painfully nerdy and shy) client, and the only thing the writers could think to have him reference is ''Film/ANewHope''.

A 2006 romantic comedy starring Creator/SarahJessicaParker and Creator/MatthewMcConaughey, known if for any reason for a subplot with Creator/ZooeyDeschanel and Creator/JustinBartha widely agreed to be far more interesting than the main plot.

* {{Manchild}}: Tripp.