One of the lowest-rated romantic comedies of the 2000s. Launch failure – has become Netflix’s most-watched series, despite its terrible 23% score on Rotten Tomatoes. But why has it become a global hit on Netflix 18 years later? Well, the answer is 1) Matthew McConaughey and 2) there’s clearly still a desire to watch nostalgic rom-coms from the 2000s.
Other poorly rated romantic comedy flops like A family affair and Find me falling have made their way into the top ten streaming services list in recent weeks, but now it's Launch failure which has reached number seven with 4.8 million views.
Despite a whole batch of new Netflix movies and a list of the best Netflix movies to choose from, it seems like a movie starring Hollywood's once-favorite romantic lead, McConaughey, is what everyone wants to see to take us back to the golden age of rom-coms.
Did Failure to Launch really fail to launch?
See in the
Launch failure The story follows Tripp (McConaughey), a 35-year-old man still living with his parents, who hire interventionist Paula (Sarah Jessica Parker) to help motivate him to move out of the house. But he soon discovers that Tripp is completely different from the other clients he's dealt with before. The film also stars big name actors Bradley Cooper, Zooey Deschanel and Kathy Bates.
Before becoming the bona fide serious actor he is today, after starring in films like True detective and Dallas Buyers Club, McConaughey was the king of romantic comedies. From 2001 to 2009, his Southern charm had people swooning over popular romantic comedies like How to lose a guy in 10 days and The wedding planner. McConaughey then moved on to more dramatic roles, which certainly paid off, but it meant the end of a much-loved era of McConaughey romances.
Launch failure It's a typical 2000s romantic comedy that McConaughey appeared in during this stage of his career. Critics panned it poorly, with The Guardian writing in their scathing review: “Once again, Matthew McConaughey creates an aura, a force field of unfunnyness. A human-sized block of unfunny kryptonite from the unfunny planet, killing everything funny within a 1,000-yard radius.” However, like McConaughey's previous projects, it made an impact at the box office, grossing over $130 million.
Modern romantic comedies seem to lack the luster they had in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I mean, it's hard when you have the iconic Notting Hill and 10 things i hate about you to deal with, which makes it much more difficult for theatrical romantic comedies to make big profits at the box office these days.
While modern cinema strives to bring a dying genre back to life with films like Nobody but you and Your place or mine, It's hard to emulate the nostalgia and cheesiness of the original romantic comedies that made some of today's biggest stars famous. Launch failure With the film becoming a Netflix hit, it's clear that audiences are interested in revisiting this era of cinema and seeing McConaughey back in his romantic prime.
