First, ask yourself if you buy the premise that a guy that looks like Matthew McConaughey, at age 35, would still be living at home with his parents. The movie does offer you a weak excuse but given that the entire movie is built around this idea, it seems doomed to failure. Ironically the movie is saved in part (at least enough to be average) by its supporting roles played by Terry Bradshaw, Kathy Bates, and especially Zooey Deschanel.
Imagine a world where there are so many men in their thirties living at home with their parents that there exists a profession where women enable these men to move out on their own because of an inspiring romantic relationship. Apparently these men are all buddies because both of McConaughey’s best friends also live at home (and are handsome of course), and all of McConaughey’s parent’s friends seem to have the same problem with their sons too. It’s an epidemic!!
So I’m sure if you’ve seen at least one romantic comedy in the last decade, you can imagine where this one is going. McConaughey’s parents hire Sarah Jessica Parker to seduce their son from the nest, she falls in love with her “client,” he falls in love with her, and then (drum roll please) he finds out she was hired. Shocking. What you don’t expect is for all this “drama” to be interspersed with biting animals. No I did not mistype, McConaughey actually gets bitten by a chipmunk, a dolphin, and a lizard in the most distracting scenes of slapstick comedy I have seen in a longtime. They loosely tie it into the story, but unfortunately it does not make up for how it completely takes you out of the movie.
There were a few things to like about this movie though, as I mentioned earlier. Zooey Deschanel is fantastically odd and humorous as Parker’s quirky roommate. Her dry delivery always makes her a treat. Terry Bradshaw and Kathy Bates as McConaughey’s parents turn out to be the most believable and honest characters in the movie. They don’t deliver anything outstanding, but they are effective.
By Tina Alexander
