“Ticket to Paradise” Review
George Clooney and Julia Roberts star in “Ticket to Paradise” as a divorced couple trying to stop their daughter’s wedding in scenic Bali.
2022 has seen some really great entries in the romantic comedy genre. Films like “Father of the Bride,” “The Lost City” and especially “Bros” have been a lot of fun for me and I’ve had quite a bit of laughs. Which is why it pains me to say that “Ticket to Paradise” doesn’t have the charm, wit and emotion that was promised, despite two great actors trying their best to convince us otherwise.
David and Georgia Cotton (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) are a divorced couple who can not stand each other. In fact, they do everything to stay apart. The only thing in which they find common ground is the love for their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever). However, when she meets a man (Maxime Bouttier) on a vacation to Bali and decides to marry him despite only knowing him for a month, David and Georgia decide to put their differences aside and stop the wedding only for the two of them to find they might be able to stand each other again.
If you watched the trailer for this film, you can probably guess what’s going to happen. “Ticket to Paradise” does suffer from a predictable story. However, I can forgive familiarity if I still have some laughs but that’s not to be found. At best, the jokes got polite chuckles out of me. At worst, they were met with stone faced silence.
Even Clooney and Roberts’ bickering, which sounds like it could be fun, is mostly this: Clooney/Roberts says something slightly clever and rude, the other replies with a comeback and usually Clooney sarcastically laughs. When the film’s humor becomes childish or mean-spirited, it’s actually quite funny but those jokes are very few.
What kept me interested in the film were Clooney and Roberts' performances. Their chemistry is believable and, despite them being friends in real life, their comedic disdain for each other does become endearing. Unfortunately, none of the other characters made me laugh because they weren’t that memorable. The sole exception alongside Clooney and Roberts is Billie Lourd, who plays Lily’s best friend Wren. Lourd’s character is a hot mess and any comedic line that comes from her made me laugh. If only there were more of her in the film.
Because the characters aren’t well defined, when “Ticket to Paradise” tries to have serious, emotional scenes, most of them don’t feel justified. There’s not enough scenes of the characters bonding compared to painfully forced jokes. What makes the experience even worse is that the pacing is all over the place. When the third act with the wedding approaches, it moves slowly to the point where I was begging for the bride and groom to kiss already.
The film’s writer and director, Ol Parker, has done some great work in the past including writing “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” and writing/directing “Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!” which I believe to be superior to the original. But in this case, there’s very little underneath this beautiful looking film. The landscapes of Bali may be breathtaking, but “Ticket to Paradise” has very little that is memorable.
What made the experience less lukewarm and more disheartening is that this film has made over $100 million while better romantic comedies like “Bros” bombed at the box office and “Father of the Bride” was released to HBOMax instead of theatrically.
If you like George Clooney and Julia Roberts and think that they’re chemistry may be enough to carry the film, the film may just be enough to entertain you. But there are better romantic comedies and better films starring Clooney and Roberts together which deserve more attention.
