IN 2003, Kate Hudson played a character in How to Lose A Guy in 10 Days, who, through the ridiculousness of her position at a women's magazine, was paid to torment Matthew McConaughey for a "how to" article. Three years down the road, in Failure to Launch, Sarah Jessica Parker is similarly fucking with McConaughey's heart, this time in the capacity of a "professional interventionist," Paula, who's hired to date/cure men like McConaughey's Trip—who are unwilling or unable to move out of their parents' homes (it's most frequently the parents who hire her). It's remarkable that Paula's career not only pays the rent but provides for a fetching wardrobe; also remarkable is the fact that on the posters for both Launch and How to Lose a Guy, McConaughey is posed in precisely the same rakish, boyish position.

Wacky jobs and weird posters aside, Launch manages to strike a fair balance between originality and familiar, sappy likeability. This is largely thanks to a dynamic supporting cast (especially Zooey Deschanel, as Paula's deadpan drunk roommate, and Kathy Bates and Terry Bradshaw as Trip's parents), as well as an ultimately hokey but charmingly intended animal kingdom subtext. (Example: Because a full-grown man living with his parents is fundamentally against the laws of nature, animals are constantly attacking Trip.)

The central characters themselves are more Sarah and Matthew than Trip and Paula—lord knows we'd hardly recognize SJP if she wasn't in an awkward dating situation, and McConaughey is downright arrogant in his mastery of the dreamy rogue. You could do far worse than put yourself in the hands of these pros, but it might be more worthwhile to use those 97 minutes of your life to devise a career that will place you in unlikely romantic contexts with ruggedly handsome single men.