Kathy Bates: Good Kisser In 'Failure'

Oscar Winner Plays Mother Of Stubborn Bachelor

(CBS)  Kathy Bates' acting credentials are as serious as they come: she's an Academy Award winner with a huge resume of films. But this time around she decided to have a little fun, acting in the new romantic comedy, "Failure to Launch."

Bates plays the mother of Matthew McConaughey, a grown up bachelor who simply refuses to leave the nest. She and her husband, played by Terry Bradshaw, decide to hire a professional, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, to uproot the reluctant son.

In an interview with The Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith, Bates said the film's plot really isn't so far fetched.

"When we started doing press for this, I realized how many friends I have whose kids, kids in their 30s, are still living at home. It's amazing," she said. "Everybody is kind of parked at home."

Bates said she hadn't expected to act opposite Terry Bradshaw, a sports commentator and former football quarterback, but that the casting turned out to be an inspired decision.

"They were casting the dad and said, 'What do you think about Terry Bradshaw?' And my manager kind of scratched her head and went, 'I don't know.' And I thought, 'What inspired casting?' " she said. "And, as it turned out, we had amazing chemistry off and on screen."

So amazing, in fact, that Bradshaw has been spreading the word that Bates is a good kisser.

"He's been telling everybody that," she told Smith. "I said 'As long as you can reverse my image from 'Misery,' (for which Bates won an Oscar, playing a deranged fan who holds an injured novelist captive), we're in business.' "