Friday, March 10, 2006

Failure to comprehend

With each ad I've been subjected to on TV, any interest I had in seeing Matthew McConaughey's new movie, Failure to Launch, dwindled to below zero. We're talking negative numbers here. And I wasn't that interested to begin with, despite the women in my life constantly gooing over Naked Bongo Boy. (Alright, alright, alright...!)

It looked like a steaming paper bag of romantic comedy elephant dung to me. Hiring Terry Bradshaw to play McConaughey's dad? How could it not be cinematic vomit?

Then I read Stephen Hunter's review in today's Washington Post:

"... the movie is one of the best American films in months and months and the best comedy since I don't know when."

Say what? Hunter even compared this thing to a Billy Wilder film. Holy guacamole. And it's not like Hunter is prone to gushing, as I've pointed out before.

Is it possible? Is this actually a good movie? Should I not judge a film by its trailer (which is, by the way, all I have to go on when deciding what to see at the theater)?

Nah. 27% at Rotten Tomatoes. 48 at Metacritic. Just keep livin'...