The Bottom Line: McConaughey Fights Failure with ‘Failure’

Matthew McConaughey is nothing without a good woman by his side.

With the exception of U-571, the charismatic Texan’s failed countless times to open a film by his lonesome. But pair McConaughey with Sandra Bullock, Kate Hudson or Jennifer Lopez, and People’s reigning Sexiest Man Alive is as hot as they come.

Now it’s Sarah Jessica Parker’s turn to be wooed by McConaughey. And that’s good news for everyone’s favorite bongo player, who lost his rhythm with last year’s Sahara and Two for the Money. (Sahara may have excavated more than $68.6 million–and launched a Dirk Pitt franchise–had McConaughey displayed any chemistry with real-life love Penelope Cruz.)

In Failure to Launch, Parker’s hired to seduce McConaughey so the slacker will finally move out of his parents’ home. But business soon turns to pleasure for Parker…

Yes, this is a lazy and predictable affair that coasts on the charms of its likable lovebirds. Still, the sparks that fly between McConaughey and Parker should be enough to rocket Failure to Launch past The Wedding Planner’s $60.4 million.

If that happens, McConaughey‘s once again owes an enormous debt of gratitude to his on-screen sweetheart. And it reinforces the notion that he’s yet to live up to the hype that surrounded 1996’s A Time to Kill.

Remember, McConaughey achieved instant fame when director Joel Schumacher plucked him out of obscurity to heat up the John Grisham legal thriller. He immediately went from eye candy in Boys on the Side to leading man in films directed by Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. But a decade later, McConaughey’s still striving hard to be the next big thing.

It’s easy to understand why McConaughey’s foundered as an action hero. The Newton Boys shot blanks, Reign of Fire failed to live up to its potential, and Sahara was a poor man’s National Treasure.

And no one wants to see McConaughey trade his roguish grin for a straight face. Frailty needed time to cultivate a following, but Lionsgate went too wide, too quickly. Amistad was another earnest history from Steven Spielberg that went unnoticed. Al Pacino made Two for the Money a headache. And Tiptoes went direct to DVD.

But an undeterred McConaughey marches on.

He next dons his coach’s hat for We Are Marshall (Nov. 10), a fact-based sports drama about the aftermath of the 1970 plane crash that killed 75 college football players, coaches and fans. This could be McConaughey’s Friday Night Lights ($61.2 million).

Possibly thinking about what Gone In 60 Seconds did for Nicolas Cage, McConaughey puts the Hammer Down as an ex-NASCAR star speeding toward a life of crime. And maybe McConaughey and Don Cheadle will sing the Tishomingo Blues, an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel that Cheadle‘s planned to direct for years.

McConaughey’s riskiest move: reuniting with Cruz for The Loop, about a cop searching for his parents. If audiences resisted Sahara, why would they want to be in The Loop with McConaughey and Cruz?

The Bottom Line
Unlikely to return as Dirk Pitt, McConaughey’s still trying to pick the right projects that will make him a draw in his own right. But if Failure to Launch proves to be his only hit following How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, then don’t be surprised if McConaughey quickly finds himself once more in the mood for love.