At times strained, 'Failure: A Love Story' largely succeeds

It does seem inevitable when the rich young man named Mortimer Mortimer asks the monk parakeet to dance. Nattily attired in a check suit and bow tie -- and politely overlooking the fact that a woman has recently careened by on a rolling desk chair, pretending to practice her swimming strokes -- Mortimer extends the invitation with courtesy. Soon, to the strains of a 1920s song, he's fox-trotting with the bird -- portrayed, in this case, by a bright green feather duster.