Failure to Launch 🎥 2006 Movie Info

Plot Summary

Thirty-five-year-old Tripp still lives with his parents Al and Sue in Baltimore. His best friends Demo and Ace also still live in their parents’ homes. Tripp has many casual girlfriends. When he is tired of them, he invites them to “his place”—and when they realize he still lives at home, they dump him. Al and Sue are fascinated when their friends, whose adult son recently left home, reveal that they hired an expert to get him to move out. The expert is Paula, who believes that men continue to live at home because they have low self-esteem.

Her approach is to establish a relationship with the man to build his confidence, then transfer his attachment from his parents to her. However, Tripp does not fit the profiles of Paula’s previous clients, as he has normal social skills, good self-esteem, and a good job he enjoys. After some time dating, when he sees that she might be getting too attached, he stages an awkward encounter with his parents. Paula thwarts Tripp’s usual M.O. attempt to dump her by having sex with him while developing real feelings. Paula and Tripp find themselves in unfamiliar waters, so they confide in their friends.

Paula’s roommate Kit theorises that Paula created this essentially con artist persona because a man who lived with his parents broke her heart. But Paula is shocked to learn why Tripp lives at home: his life collapsed when his fiancée died, and his family has been his solace. Ace discovers Paula’s profession and that she is duping Tripp, so he blackmails Paula for a date with Kit. Although Kit is more attracted to Demo, she and Ace fall in love. Ace then “outs” Paula to Demo, who tells Tripp. Tripp confronts his parents and Paula over the scam, breaks up with her.

Meet the Cast