In Hollywood, the man-child is king

The upstanding Paulie can't shake the feeling that marriage will change him for the worse by separating him from his friends. In the course of the film, where each scene is pitched as a minitutorial in positive thinking, he is made to see the error of his ways. Old resentments are worked out, prejudices are eliminated, and a blissful ending beckons.

As in "You, Me and Dupree," male camaraderie is both hailed and assailed. It represents a noble rite of passage that all too easily becomes a case of arrested development. The women in this universe are doting, exasperated saints who rescue men from themselves. These films are saying that men, left to their own devices, are nothing more than porno-obsessed lunkheads. Only through the acquisition of a wife and family are they truly fulfilled. But as is often the case, this homey fulfillment has an obligatory feel to it – it lacks the rambunctious authenticity of the goofball moments.

As a writer-director, Edward Burns is as industrious as an occupational therapist. He makes sure each of his people is well positioned for happiness. He offers a comforting view of life and, on some level, a dishonest one, since we know that the problems raised in this film by infidelity, infertility, homosexuality, and alcoholism are not so easily papered over.

But at least Burns acknowledges that these issues exist. A movie like "The Break-Up," where Vince Vaughn's Gary and Jennifer Aniston's Brooke go mano a mano in their condo, stumps for a relationship between these two warriors that any idiot can see is doomed. Gary is yet another big baby who wedges his bulk into the couch and plays video games to improve his mind. In the real world, a guy like this would never last a minute with a culture vulture like Brooke, but the filmmakers put them together because they want to see smoke rise.

In "Failure to Launch," Matthew McConaughey's good-time Tripp is living with his parents while dating and dumping a series of bimbos. To get him out of the house, his parents hire Sarah Jessica Parker as the lure, with predictable consequences. The phenomenon of guys living with their parents into their 20s and 30s is a real one, and ripe for comedy. But "Failure to Launch" – an apt title – doesn't know what to make of it all beyond a few giggles and winks.

Great movies have been made in the past about male layabouts – like Fellini's "I Vitelloni" and Barry Levinson's "Diner," which demonstrated with a piercing poignancy the thwarted emotional possibilities of its young men.

But, for the most part, these new movies feature guys with about as much personality as a whoopee cushion. Why are we seeing so many of them? Maybe because it's tough to be an action hero in the modern world and so these yowling oafs of inaction are here to fill the void. Or maybe adolescence is being enshrined because the people who get to make movies now are as stunted as their protagonists. 'Dupree':C; 'Groomsmen':B

• 'You, Me and Dupree' is rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, crude humor, language and a drug reference. 'The Groomsmen' is rated R for pervasive language and brief nudity.

'You, Me and Dupree': Sex/Nudity: 16 scenes of innuendo or implied sex. Violence: 8 scenes, mostly slapstick. Language: 9 strong expressions, 25 milder. Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco: 13 scenes of smoking and/or drinking.

Page: 1 | 2