Failure to Launch has rocketed up to become a huge global hit, nearly two decades after it was first released.
The romantic comedy hit the big screen in March, 2006, and boasted an A-List cast, including Jessica Parker, Matthew McConaughey, , Zooey Deschanel and Kathy Bates.
, who still lived at home when his parents secretly employed an expert, Paula (Sarah), as a way of finally getting him to fly the nest for good.
However, their plans fell apart when Tripp learnt of Paula’s true intentions, leading to some awkward scenes.
Despite all the star-power, the flick was instantly panned by many, who panned it as ‘weak’ and ’verging on the preposterous’.
However, it has enjoyed a resurgence on Netflix and stormed into the streaming platform’s top 10 list for the week between July 29 and August 4 – with more views than.
Failure to Launch arrived in seventh place on the list, scoring more than 7.8million hours watched in total, and was viewed over 4.8million times.
Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie was in the top spot, with Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Trolls Band Together, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back and The Bad Guys also claimed huge numbers.
Not too shabby.
The noughties classic was widely criticized when it was originally released, leading to a critics’ Rotten Tomatoes score of 23%, compared to the audience score of 52%.
Claudia Puig of USA Today branded it ‘misbegotten, the chemistry non-existent and the dialogue leaden’.
Moira MacDonald from the Seattle Times suggested that it was ‘yet another disposable romantic comedy made with little thought or skill’.
A brutal review from E! News described Matthew and Sarah as having ‘the absolute worst taste in roles’, before celebrating that their on-screen partnership meant ‘only one bad movie will ensue rather than two, individually’.
The BBC’s Stella Papamichael said it ‘quickly runs out of steam’, while Kirk Honeycutt from the Hollywood Reporter suggested that it was ‘a no-go from the start’.
In a candid chat with People Magazine, Matthew – who went on to star in Magic Mike, Dallas Buyers Club, Interstellar and Sing – on Sarah Jessica when he was growing up.
Reflecting on sharing a set with the Sex and the City legend, who has been married to Matthew Broderick since 1997, he shared that he let her know while they were filming,
‘I had a big crush on Sarah Jessica [Parker] growing up,’ the actor, who married Camila Alves in 2012, said.’ I did let her know.
‘I don’t know if it was the first day of shooting or the last, but I did let her know.’
Good to know…
