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Movie Review: Ticket to Paradise

NEW YORK – While the mostly agreeable comedy “Ticket to Paradise” (Universal) won’t necessarily transport viewers to cinematic heaven, it will take them to a good place, both visually and thematically. Set in Indonesia (though filmed in Australia), the film showcases enchanting island landscapes as well as ethical ideas generally in keeping with Gospel-based morality.

Decades after their acrimonious divorce, ex-spouses David and Georgia (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) can agree on only one subject: their enthusiastic love for their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever). Thus, when they’re temporarily thrown together for Lily’s graduation from law school, the former couple’s longstanding antagonism breaks out afresh amid petty squabbling and mutual putdowns.

Embarking on a well-earned vacation to Bali with her best friend Wren (Billie Lourd) in tow, Lily promptly falls for local seaweed farmer Gede (Maxime Bouttier). When mom and dad learn that Lily has abandoned her plans to become a lawyer and intends instead to marry Gede and settle down in his homeland, they’re horrified at what they regard as her excessively hasty change of direction.

Uniting forces, the duo travels to the South Seas resolved to prevent the forthcoming nuptials.

Behind the often-witty jibes of the script director Ol Parker co-wrote with Daniel Pipski, viewers of faith will discern congenial values. Although undergirded by romanticism rather than religion, the screenplay upholds lasting marital commitment – and ultimately depicts the reasons for David and Georgia’s split as insufficient to justify their alienation from each other.

Some may question the movie’s exultation of traditional native culture over that of the West and may chafe at the facile nature of its message, delivered in passing, about the importance of living in harmony with nature. But few will be inclined to quibble with its celebration of the close ties by which Gede’s extended family are shown to be bound to one another.

As Lily struggles to assert her right to make her own decisions, and David and Georgia reconsider the choices they’ve made in the past, lapses of behavior as well as a few off-color sight gags are included in the proceedings.

Though confined to the edges of the story, these incidental elements make “Ticket to Paradise” an expedition that’s safest for grown-ups.

Look for: An implicit endorsement of the permanence of marriage.

Look out for: A premarital situation, some sexual humor, a single use of profanity, numerous milder oaths, at least one rough term and several crude and crass expressions.

The Catholic Moviegoer’s guidance is M – suitable for mature viewers. The Motion Picture Association rating is PG-13 – parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Watching “Ticket to Paradise,” one can’t help but think of the famous James Stewart line from 1940’s “The Philadelphia Story.” It goes, “The prettiest sight in this fine, pretty world is the privileged class enjoying its privileges.”

To be clear, the privileged class in Ol Parker ’s frustratingly unexceptional rom-com doesn’t only consist of the story’s chief characters: successful architects, art dealers, and recent grads of a fancy college, with pockets deep enough to afford an extended luxury vacation in Bali. In this specific case, it also consists of two bona fide movie stars— George Clooney and Julia Roberts (you might have heard of them here and there)—having a ball with the well-earned privileges of their status as the-last-of-their-kind Hollywood superstars, while bickering their way through some bitter zingers and sarcastic gotchas.

In that regard, it certainly is a pretty sight, to witness two gorgeous, forever-charismatic silver screen royals unite against a breathtaking tropical backdrop (and in frothy promotional videos), with their gracefully aging visages front and center before the rest of us mortals. Sadly though, the loose link between “Ticket to Paradise” and George Cukor ’s screwball classic stop right there, at that aforementioned quote. And you should blame it on a dispiriting script that relies too heavily on its A-list actors’ magnetic presence alone, instead of bothering with a good story that we can root for.

So let’s jump to another quote from another film. At this stage, imagine this die-hard romantic-comedy devotee, throwing her jazz hands in the air and yelling like the late William Hurt in “ A History of Violence ”: “How do you f**k that up?” Indeed, how on earth do the effortless charms of Roberts and Clooney not yield the kind of rom-com we used to routinely get in the ‘90s? The issue is the second romantic tale that unfolds around them, one that doesn’t hit a single believable note. It belongs to Lily (a delightful Kaitlyn Dever in an underwritten part), who is the abovesaid college graduate on her way to a Bali vacation, with her fun and sexually very active female sidekick, Wren ( Billie Lourd ), and an invitation to join a top-shelf law firm on her return.

Soon enough, Lily decides to get married to the handsome seaweed farmer Gede ( Maxime Bouttier ) she’s somehow rapidly fallen in love with, after the laziest meet-cute sequence imaginable. (It’s more appropriate to call that scene just plain meet and drop the cute entirely.) So instead of enjoying her time with Wren, having some wild nights out, and returning home for the bright future that awaits—you know, like any intelligent young woman of her caliber would do—Lily dedicates her entire being to Gede. There is of course nothing wrong with love at first sight in life or in movies, the kind that this critic is shamelessly in favor of, especially in cinematic contexts. But to make the massive life decision of marriage and deciding to stay in Bali for it on a whim? Even the rugged ice harvester Kristoff of “ Frozen ” laughed at this idea: “You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?” And that was a Disney movie in a 19 th Century setting.

Objectively speaking, Lily doesn’t decide on the marriage that day exactly. But the film is so lacking in building the couple’s romance and chemistry that it feels like a same-day verdict. What co-writers Parker and Daniel Pipski instead do is use Lily’s storyline as an excuse to bring Clooney’s David and Roberts’ Georgia together, Lily’s parents and each other’s exes that hate one another. But the duty calls and the duo embarks on a mission to Bali to end this ridiculous fling as a pair of responsible parents.

In fairness, “Ticket to Paradise” earns some goodwill during the David-Georgia scenes and gives the two some sharp moments of squabble, several of which the film’s trailer unfortunately spoils. But the ex-couple’s sexual tension and natural ease at hating each other earn the admission price, even when the momentary bliss we feel in their presence fades away with Lily and Gede reappearing frequently and a present-day romantic interest of Georgia (played by Lucas Bravo ) taking up too much time. It would have been one thing if “Ticket to Paradise” spent some real time thinking through the young fiancés, helping us understand what makes them interesting and right for each other. But in the aftermath, you’ll be shocked at how little you’ll learn about either, apart from their vast affection for the locale they often call beautiful. Well, of course, it is beautiful because what we see is mostly a luxury resort, a fact that makes the “I understand why she likes it here” quote from the parents painfully funny when they show empathy towards Lily’s decision to stay. Doesn’t everyone like a luxury resort?

We do get to see some things outside of the resort, like the lovely grounds of Gede’s supportive family and a pair of touristic sites. But “Ticket to Paradise” seems oddly disinterested in any family dynamics or anything that has to do with Bali, save for a couple of nuptial traditions cartoonishly represented. In the world of this film, everything is background noise and an item on a list of excuses to bring George and Julia together. The saddest casualty of this disposition is Wren. But with her P.J. Soles vibes, Billie Lourd still runs with it enchantingly, committing the cardinal sin of being far more memorable than the bride herself. Perhaps in revenge, the film periodically forgets about her existence.

Bless the old-school stars Roberts and Clooney for elevating this lackluster mélange and in certain instances, even making you forget about the non-sensical film that surrounds them. But that’s hardly enough, especially if you are hoping for a homecoming for the rom-coms of yore.

In theaters today.

Tomris Laffly

Tomris Laffly is a freelance film writer and critic based in New York. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), she regularly contributes to  RogerEbert.com , Variety and Time Out New York, with bylines in Filmmaker Magazine, Film Journal International, Vulture, The Playlist and The Wrap, among other outlets.

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Film credits.

Ticket to Paradise (2022)

Rated PG-13 for some strong language and brief suggestive material.

104 minutes

Julia Roberts as Georgia

George Clooney as David

Kaitlyn Dever as Lily

Maxime Bouttier as Gede

Billie Lourd as Wren

Lucas Bravo as Paul

• Daniel Pipski

Cinematographer

• Ole Bratt Birkeland
• Peter Lambert
• Lorne Balfe

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‘Ticket to Paradise’ review: The rom-com formula remains strong

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This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.

Screenshot from YouTube

This is a spoiler-free review.

It’s so hard to hate the romantic comedy genre. Some people think it’s a phase, others think it’s cheesy and artificial, and then there’s the category of viewers who pretend to hate it. 

I’m a rom-com lover, and I’m not ashamed about it. Best friends turned lovers. Secret childhood connections. Guy uses a love interest as a ruse to attract another person, only to discover that what he was looking for was right in front of him all along. I’m down for all of them.

Personally, just give me two characters who are fueled by pettiness but secretly yearn to be in the arms of one another, and I will chew that up with comfort ice cream. Something about the genre and its fairytale aspirations makes audiences swoon with passionate affection. Call it what you want – magic or naïveté – but you can’t deny its effectiveness.

And so here comes a new rom-com offering from Julia Roberts and George Clooney, two actors you simply cannot take your eyes off once they get in the groove. A known master in the genre, Roberts expertly sinks into her rom-com royalty heels, and it still fits gorgeously. On the other hand, Clooney manages to make what would otherwise be a repugnable old white dude into a charming goofball. 

Pairing the two in a rom-com after five films together (most prominently in the Ocean’s trilogy) is a smart move. Not only are they accomplished and charismatic actors, but they’re at the right place and right time in their careers for this film to work. Ticket to Paradise allows Roberts and Clooney a chance to relax, chill, and not take themselves too seriously in a fun escapist getaway in Bali, Indonesia.

The film introduces David (Clooney) and Georgia Cotton (Roberts), a divorced couple forced to reunite as their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), abruptly decides to marry an Indonesian man he just met named Gede (Maxime Bouttier). The two parents decide to visit their daughter in the hopes of bringing her back to America to continue being a lawyer. Little do they know that the trip will resuscitate the remaining embers of love lingering between them.

Along the ride are Lily’s carefree friend Wren (Billie Lourd) and the scene-stealing loyal lackey named Paul (Lucas Bravo), who is submissive to Georgia to a fault. A tug-of-war game ensues as the divorcees make moves to prevent the wedding from happening. Later on, it becomes clear that it’s a battle of cultures, and, predictably, the film sits squarely within the Western side until it slowly softens as it reveals more about Indonesian life.

Let’s first get the elephant topic out of the window: big colonizer energy. Is the film engaging in some sort of skewered balancing act between honoring Indonesian culture and wedding customs and asserting its own Western gaze? Probably, and it’s most apparent in the first half.

Clooney and Roberts, without a doubt, have chemistry. But if I were a character in this film, I’d see them as insufferable and unconscionable foreigners. It is only when definitive challenges to their world views arrive in the form of their daughter calling them out for their selfishness that the film makes attempts at unshackling itself from privileged undertones.

It’s the same line of attack that critics have used against Roberts’ previous film Eat Pray Love , which centered on a woman finding self-discovery by traveling to exotic and mystical places. Needless to say, people have been turned off by this brand of postcolonial orientalism. A 2010 NPR article mentions how this phenomenon relies on the “stereotype that the East is someplace timeless, otherworldly, incomprehensible, waiting to be discovered by Westerners in search of self.” 

It also doesn’t help to find out the film wasn’t even shot in Bali, Indonesia. It was filmed in Queensland, Australia , due to the production schedule coinciding with the height of COVID-19 restrictions. This means that, while it is unquestionably a move made in dire circumstances, technical wizardry was used to accentuate the beauty of Indonesian culture, which unfortunately bestowed the scenery with a certain degree of artificiality.

Considering this, the main romance was the film’s unmistakable saving grace. In an interview with Variety , Roberts said: “I think it’s so funny…it’s probably going to be terrible because there’s too much potential for it to be great, it’ll just implode on it itself. I think that should be the commercial for the movie: ‘It’s probably going to be terrible.’”

Weirdly enough, Clooney and Roberts having a terrible amount of fun was precisely what the film needed. Seeing the two dance off in a nondescript nightclub after winning a beer pong battle against their potential son-in-law is the kind of dopamine boost that is difficult to replicate. In some respects, the two leads don’t even feel like a divorced couple. They have the banter and tenderness that most fictional married couples could only dream of.

Though the frames of this film are laden with a “we’ve seen this before” climate, the clichés and stereotypes are embraced not due to a lack of originality but because they compel us to care about the fantasy that the rom-com is trying to sell. Ticket to Paradise elicits a great deal of fun and laughter, but I’m not pretending that it was revolutionary or game-changing as a result.

I bought into the escapism because it’s natural to want to imagine meeting the one on a paradise island and not care about future ramifications. It’s instinctual to want to have two people who have a tragic past reconcile and meet halfway in the grandest way possible. The film knows how to push the right buttons, and it’s nice to have some semblance of romantic justice projected on the big screen. 

Overall, Ticket to Paradise is best viewed in a vacuum. The cocktail and beach aesthetic, the colorful Indonesian wedding rituals, and the huge host of attractive cast members are all in service of giving the most pleasant and gratifying experience. If you allow yourself to be stranded on a beautiful island and forget about all the problems in the world, it works. – Rappler.com

Ticket to Paradise is now showing in Philippine cinemas. 

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Ticket to paradise, common sense media reviewers.

Clooney and Roberts elevate cute, booze-filled romcom.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Encourages healthy, open, honest communication bet

Both Georgia and David love Lily fiercely, but the

The movie centers on a wealthy, divorced White par

A character is bitten by a poisonous snake and mus

Adult characters kiss passionately and make refere

Two uses of "f--k," plus "s--t," "s--tshow," "a--h

At least two scenes prominently feature a super-si

Adult characters drink often at parties, hotel bar

Parents need to know that Ticket to Paradise is a banter-filled romcom starring two of the world's biggest superstars as ever-sniping divorced parents. David (George Clooney) and Georgia (Julia Roberts) fly from Chicago to Bali to stop their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), from marrying a man she's just met…

Positive Messages

Encourages healthy, open, honest communication between parents and adult children -- as well as parents respecting their adult children's choices, even if they don't agree with them. Also emphasizes the need for forgiveness and the importance of extended family.

Positive Role Models

Both Georgia and David love Lily fiercely, but they also lie to her and actively work to sabotage her upcoming marriage. While their behavior is played for laughs, they're unkind to her fiance and disprespectful to their daughter. Eventually they learn their lesson and redeem themselves. Lily is smart and kind to everyone. Gede is a loving, selfless, and generous fiance, and his family welcomes the Cottons with open arms. Wren is a loyal best friend.

Diverse Representations

The movie centers on a wealthy, divorced White parents who fly to Bali to convince their daughter not to marry a Balinese young man she's only known for a few weeks (although it seems like days). Various aspects of Balinese culture are depicted (landscape, clothing, cuisine, agricultural work), and some ceremonial engagement and marriage practices are portrayed and explained. Despite the character of Gede being depicted as fully Balinese, the actor who plays him (Maxime Bouttier) is half White.

Did we miss something on diversity? Suggest an update.

Violence & Scariness

A character is bitten by a poisonous snake and must be hospitalized (he recovers). One character accidentally strikes another in the nose. A dolphin charges a person, leaving him injured.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Adult characters kiss passionately and make references to sex, condom use, and spending the night together. Two people wake up in the same bed after a drunken night out and make references to under-the-sheet nudity (not shown).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Two uses of "f--k," plus "s--t," "s--tshow," "a--hole," "f--king a--hole," "pissed," "bitch," "dumbass," etc.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Products & Purchases

At least two scenes prominently feature a super-sized pack of Trojan condoms. Characters hold what look like iPhones and wear what look like white AirPods.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Adult characters drink often at parties, hotel bars, and on planes (wine, champagne, cocktails, hard liquor). Newly graduated law students drink straight from a wine bottle; later a lead character asks a flight attendant for a bottle of champagne and drinks from it. Several scenes include characters getting drunk, particularly in a sequence when Lily and her fiancé play beer pong (using a local Balinese liquor) with her parents. Hangovers are witnessed and discussed on different occasions.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Ticket to Paradise is a banter-filled romcom starring two of the world's biggest superstars as ever-sniping divorced parents. David ( George Clooney ) and Georgia ( Julia Roberts ) fly from Chicago to Bali to stop their daughter, Lily ( Kaitlyn Dever ), from marrying a man she's just met. There's a lot of drinking and drunken behavior, with adults drinking at bars, restaurants, parties, and on planes -- a few times straight from a bottle or while playing a variation of beer pong. While played for laughs, there are consequences to the boozy behavior. There's also some strong language peppered throughout the dialogue, including at least two uses of "f--k," plus one "f--king," "s--t," "bitch," "a--hole," and more. Mild comic violence includes a poisonous snake bite, a dolphin "attack," and a man accidentally hitting his significant other's nose. While the movie portrays several aspects of Balinese culture (cuisine, landmarks, wedding rituals), it shouldn't be confused with a Balinese film: The story's focus is on the White tourists trying to sabotage their daughter's wedding. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

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Community Reviews

• Parents say (6)
• Kids say (9)

Based on 6 parent reviews

Great movie kids will love the action and great positive role models to help them grow in life.

It's dull, sleep-worthy movie, and not what it's hyped up to be, what's the story.

In TICKET TO PARADISE, divorced art curator Georgia ( Julia Roberts ) and architect David ( George Clooney ) have spent two decades dealing with resentment and recrimination after their ill-fated five-year marriage. When their adult daughter, Lily ( Kaitlyn Dever ), writes from her law-school graduation trip to Bali to tell her parents that she's getting married in four days to a man named Gede (Maxime Bouttier) whom she just met, the conflict-prone, competitive exes fly to paradise to stop her. Once in Bali, David and Georgia agree to pretend they're supportive but in reality try to sabotage the young couple's traditional Balinese nuptials. As the days tick by, the exes discover that manipulating their daughter has brought them together more than they anticipated.

Is It Any Good?

Clooney and Roberts bring their nearly irresistible charm to this banter-filled enemies-to-lovers romcom. Ticket to Paradise marks the superstars' fifth big-screen collaboration; it's unlikely to rank above the Ocean's films for most fans, but it will intrigue moviegoers hoping to see them in a romcom together. While the "young love" part of the storyline is of the insta-love variety -- the scene where Gede first meets Lily is almost laughably obvious -- the relationship between David and Georgia coasts on the gravitas of the stars' chemistry. It's not the funny, sizzling, sexy coupledom that fans might hope for, but there's an undeniable delight in watching the two appealing actors on screen together. Billie Lourd provides notable comic-relief as Lily's supportive (and boozy) best friend, and Lucas Bravo is particularly funny as Georgia's overly adoring younger French boyfriend, who happens to be the pilot on the flight from Chicago to Bali.

The movie's setting is also utterly gorgeous. Director Ol Parker, working from a screenplay by Daniel Pipski, captures the place and the people -- albeit primarily as a lovely background for these American sweethearts. There's a seemingly respectful nod to Balinese marital customs, as well as a large Indonesian supporting cast playing Gede's family (although only his on-screen parents and sister get many lines). But the story is told from the gaze of tourists, so there's lots of exposition to explain the different ceremonies -- and even more moments of ecotourist sightseeing, including hiking, swimming with dolphins, and hiking to different temples. All of it is accompanied by the rat-a-tat-tat of Clooney and Roberts' sniping, sometimes playfully, sometimes angrily, but always headed to the inevitability of these two movie stars having a ball together.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how Ticket to Paradise plays into romcom conventions. What do movies in this genre often have in common? How does this one compare to others you've seen?

Do you consider anyone in the movie a role model ? What character strengths do they demonstrate?

There's lots of drinking in the movie. Does the alcohol use have any consequences? Why does that matter?

How was comedic violence used in this movie? Does "funny" violence impact viewers differently than more serious violence?

Movie Details

• In theaters : October 21, 2022
• On DVD or streaming : November 11, 2022
• Cast : George Clooney , Julia Roberts , Sean Lynch
• Director : Ol Parker
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Universal Pictures
• Genre : Romance
• Topics : Adventures
• Run time : 104 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG-13
• MPAA explanation : some strong language and brief suggestive material
• Last updated : March 29, 2023

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘Ticket to Paradise’ Review: Yes, They Like Piña Coladas

George Clooney and Julia Roberts take another dip into romantic comedy with this Bali-set film.

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By Amy Nicholson

“Ticket to Paradise,” the latest vacation romp from the filmmaker Ol Parker (who penned “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” and wrote and directed “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”), is a screwball adventure that forgets to pack the laughs. Having made a mint off his picturesque travelogues of Jaipur and Greece, Parker — who never met a mosquito that wasn’t edited out in post — now concocts a fantasyland Bali where an American law school graduate named Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) falls in love with a dimpled kelp farmer (Maxime Bouttier) and agrees to marry him one month after he quite literally fishes her from the sea.

The script by Parker and Daniel Pipski has scrubbed away any apprehensions concerning economics, education or class. (Lily’s intended, Gede, lives in a well-appointed beach hut filled with leather-bound books.) Nevertheless, Lily’s engagement proves to be the one thing able to unite her estranged parents David and Georgia (George Clooney and Julia Roberts), who hop on a plane to prevent the wedding. Any apprehensions the audience might have concerning the plot are confirmed during this flight sequence where the spiteful exes discover that not only are they stuck in the same seat row, but Georgia’s current boyfriend, a puppyish Frenchman (Lucas Bravo), is — surprise! — the pilot.

Such contrivances (and the even more ludicrous ones to follow) could work if the comedy vibrated on the edge of mania, if Roberts had a jolt of Katharine Hepburn’s wackadoo electricity or if Clooney’s Clark Gable-esque grin allowed him to convincingly grab a spear and hunt a wild pig when he hasn’t eaten since lunch. But these stars are too aware that the film’s draw is simply seeing the two of them together. Roberts and Clooney wear their stature like sweatpants, rousing themselves to do little more than spit insults like competitive siblings. They’re selling their own comfortable rapport, not their characters’ romantic tension.

When Parker needs to project that Roberts is steaming mad, he puts a clothes steamer in her hand so she can deliver her gripes between gusts of hot air. Dever, a major talent who will likely win her own Oscar someday, is too earnest to commit to inanity, while the marvelous Billie Lourd — the one cast member who can execute the tone — is squandered in a bit part where her sole personality trait is being drunk.

Eventually, the film succumbs to the actors’ delusion that they’re in a sincere dramedy where people also conveniently get bitten by poisonous snakes. The score shifts from playful flutes to somber piano chords; the lighting remains golden, bathing the actors in an apricot glow at the expense of forcing half the movie to take place at sunrise or sunset.

Locals know best whether Parker’s depiction of Balinese nuptials is accurate. (This critic is so far unable to confirm the rite where a bride taps her bare foot three times on a coconut.) The more authentic custom may be when David and Georgia resurrect their old college ritual: beer pong. It’s the film’s best scene as the soundtrack blasts House of Pain’s “Jump Around” at such a volume that there’s no emphasis on dialogue, only the visual delight of Julia Roberts and George Clooney goofing around.

Ticket to Paradise Rated PG-13 for strong language and a mild suggestion of sexuality. Running time: 1 hour 44 minutes. In theaters.

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Ticket to Paradise

A divorced couple teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago. A divorced couple teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago. A divorced couple teams up and travels to Bali to stop their daughter from making the same mistake they think they made 25 years ago.

• Daniel Pipski
• George Clooney
• Julia Roberts
• 359 User reviews
• 167 Critic reviews
• 50 Metascore
• 4 nominations

• David Cotton

• Georgia Cotton

• Wren Butler

• Lily Cotton

• (as Genevieve Lemon)

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Despite being set in Bali, Indonesia, the film was filmed in Queensland, Australia.
• Goofs When Georgia and David are dropping Lily and Wren off at the airport that is presumably in the United States, a sign references "prams" and "trolleys." In an American airport, it should read "strollers" and "carts."

David Cotton : You know, telling someone to calm down has literally never calmed anyone down in the history of the universe.

• Crazy credits Bloopers and outtakes during the closing credits.
• Connections Featured in CBS News Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley: Episode #45.3 (2022)
• Soundtracks Go Where You Wanna Go Written by John Phillips Performed by The Mamas and the Papas Under exclusive license from UMG Recordings, Inc. Courtesy of Universal Music Australia Pty Limited

User reviews 359

• ethanbresnett
• Sep 21, 2022
• How long is Ticket to Paradise? Powered by Alexa
• October 21, 2022 (United States)
• United Kingdom
• United States
• Official Facebook
• Official Instagram
• Tấm Vé Đến Thiên Đường
• Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia
• Universal Pictures
• Working Title Films
• Smokehouse Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $60,000,000 (estimated)
• $68,275,985
• $16,509,095
• Oct 23, 2022
• $168,767,896

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 44 minutes
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Digital

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Ticket to Paradise

2022, Romance/Comedy, 1h 44m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Ticket to Paradise may not send viewers all the way to the promised land, but this reunion for a pair of megawatt stars is still an agreeably frothy good time. Read critic reviews

Audience Says

A-list stars, beautiful scenery, and a lighthearted romcom story — what else could you want from Ticket to Paradise ? Read audience reviews

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Academy Award® winners George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite on the big screen as exes who find themselves on a shared mission to stop their lovestruck daughter from making the same mistake they once made. From Working Title, Smokehouse Pictures and Red Om Films, Ticket to Paradise is a romantic comedy about the sweet surprise of second chances.

Rating: PG-13 (Some Strong Language|Brief Suggestive Material)

Genre: Romance, Comedy

Original Language: English

Director: Ol Parker

Producer: Tim Bevan , Eric Fellner , Sarah Harvey , Deborah Balderstone

Writer: Ol Parker , Daniel Pipski

Release Date (Theaters): Oct 21, 2022  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Dec 9, 2022

Box Office (Gross USA): $68.2M

Runtime: 1h 44m

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Production Co: Working Title Films, Red Om Films, Smokehouse Pictures

Sound Mix: Dolby Atmos, Dolby Digital

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

Cast & Crew

George Clooney

Julia Roberts

Kaitlyn Dever

Billie Lourd

Maxime Bouttier

Screenwriter

Daniel Pipski

Eric Fellner

Sarah Harvey

Deborah Balderstone

Executive Producer

Grant Heslov

Lisa Roberts Gillan

Marisa Yeres Gill

Amelia Granger

Sarah-Jane Robinson

Sam Thompson

Jennifer Cornwell

Ole Bratt Birkeland

Cinematographer

Peter Lambert

Film Editing

Lorne Balfe

Original Music

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‘Ticket to Paradise’ Review: Julia Roberts and George Clooney Contemplate a Second Chance at Love in an Old-Fashioned Rom-Com

Star power and glossy visuals save the day in a slender piece of silliness set in Bali.

By Richard Kuipers

Richard Kuipers

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Opening in much of Europe, South America and Australia long before its North American release on Oct. 21, “Ticket” is the kind of lightweight entertainment that nowadays would frequently bypass cinemas and go straight to streaming platforms. With its powerhouse central duo radiating charm even when the direction lacks panache and the dialogue isn’t that funny, this ultra-formulaic concoction should still attract large crowds to its theatrical run. Looking and sounding like it could have been made 20 or 30 years ago, “Ticket” may not contain that much sparkling and sophisticated wit — or indeed many big belly laughs — but delivers sufficient smiles and chuckles to register as an easily enjoyable if unmemorable diversion for audiences seeking simple escapist entertainment.

Taking a basic cue from the “Philadelphia Story” school of comedies about divorced couples giving it another shot, director Ol Parker (“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,” writer of “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) and co-writer Daniel Pipski position David (Clooney) and Georgia (Roberts) as a husband and wife that had it all for five brief years. That was before the lakeside house David built for them burnt to the ground and their happiness went up in smoke with it.

Complicating matters is the unexpected arrival of Georgia’s younger boyfriend, Paul (a thankless role for “Emily in Paris” star Lucas Bravo), an airline pilot. An awkward type who practically worships Georgia, the handsome flyboy unsurprisingly proposes marriage just when the plot demands another distraction to keep David and Georgia apart until rom-com convention determines they’re ready to start looking at each other with new and besotted eyes. 

There’s plenty of zingy repartee in early sequences showing the cantankerous divorcees declaring a truce in order to prevent Lily making what they’re certain will be a huge mistake. Naturally that’s before they’ve even met the hubby-in-waiting, but that’s beside the point and nothing less than sabotaging the nuptials will suffice in such an emergency.

Central to the appeal of rom-coms is the fact that everyone can guess the ending. Their success depends on the timing and execution of funny quips and situations en route to familiar and comforting affirmations of love and romance. After getting off to a promising start, “Ticket to Paradise” never exactly nosedives — that would be just about impossible with Clooney and Roberts in the frame — but often struggles to make the most of a setup that seems ripe for the comic misunderstandings, zany shenanigans and crossed wires that underpin this genre.

Whether David and Georgia are enacting their pretty dumb plans to steal the wedding rings and sow doubt in Gede’s mind, or engineering travel and transport mishaps that will throw arrangements into chaos, the film moves along well enough but rarely hits comic high notes or gathers the momentum to sweep audiences up in the mayhem. David’s unfortunate encounter with a dolphin, or a hotel room switcheroo after Paul’s sudden arrival, are further examples of moments that could have been fashioned into laugh riots but end up as gently amusing instead.

When Parker gets his groove on, the picture rocks, such as the sequence in which Clooney and Roberts bust so-bad-they’re-good dance moves to C+C Music Factory’s ’90s floor-filler “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)” at a bar after one too many beer pong games. That’s about as raunchy and wild as it gets in a very PG-13 picture that never even suggests anyone’s having sex before — or even after — marriage.

It’s also good to see Balinese culture and days-long wedding rituals being accurately and respectfully depicted, as the final moment of romantic truth comes closer for the young couple and the parents of the bride-to-be. Filmed primarily in the Whitsunday Islands off northern Australia owing to Covid-19 restrictions making location shooting in Bali impossible, “Ticket” is truly given the look of paradise in the beautifully polished widescreen images of DP Ole Bratt Birkeland (“Judy”). The Aussie duo of production designer Owen Paterson (“The Matrix”) and costumer Lizzy Gardiner (“The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”) also make fine contributions toward creating of a place that seems a million miles away from all the worries of the world. For a slightly overlong 104 minutes, that’s a place many viewers will be happy enough to visit.

Reviewed at Event Cinemas George St., Sydney, Sept. 13, 2022. Running time: 104 MIN.

• Production: A Universal Pictures release and presentation of a Working Title production in association with Smokehouse, Red Om Films. Producers: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Sarah Harvey, Deborah Balderstone. Executive producers: George Clooney, Grant Heslov, Julia Roberts, Lisa Roberts Gillan, Marisa Yeres Gill, Amelia Granger, Sarah-Jane Robinson, Sam Thompson, Jennifer Cornwell.
• Crew: Director: Ol Parker. Screenplay: Parker, Daniel Pipski. Camera: Ole Bratt Birkeland. Editor: Peter Lambert. Music: Lorne Balfe.
• With: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Maxime Bouttier, Lucas Bravo, Cyntia Dharmayanti, Genevieve Lemon, Ilma Nurfauzia, Agung Pindha, Ifa Barry, Dorian Djoudi, Romy Poulier, Charles Allen, Francis McMahon, Sean Lynch, Arielle Carver-O'Neill (English, Balinese dialogue)
• Music By: Lorne Balfe

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Review: Roberts, Clooney reunite in ‘Ticket to Paradise’

This image released by Universal Pictures shows George Clooney, right, and Julia Roberts in “Ticket to Paradise.” (Vince Valitutti/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows George Clooney, left, and Julia Roberts in “Ticket to Paradise.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Maxime Bouttier and Kaitlyn Dever, right, in “Ticket to Paradise.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows George Clooney, left, and Julia Roberts in “Ticket to Paradise.” (Vince Valitutti/Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Maxime Bouttier, right, and Kaitlyn Dever in “Ticket to Paradise.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

This image released by Universal Pictures shows Kaitlyn Dever, left, and Julia Roberts in “Ticket to Paradise.” (Universal Pictures via AP)

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It’s often said that the movies that were fun to make never turn out great. Well, George Clooney and Julia Roberts look like they had a grand time making the Bali-set “Ticket to Paradise.”

The film, directed and co-written by Ol Parker (“Mama Mia! Here We Go Again”), isn’t the first movie to star Roberts and Clooney together. But it takes a moment to realize that their screen time together has been mostly limited to some scenes in the “Ocean’s Eleven” movies and Jodie Foster’s not-so-memorable 2016 thriller “Money Monster.”

Given their friendship and natural rapport, you imagine that there must have been half-a-dozen rom-coms in their past. Instead, it’s a reminder that Clooney, so often compared to Cary Grant, has, when dipping into comedy, mostly stuck to an archer, Coen-brothers register. And unlike Grant — whose on-screen romances included the brilliant likes of Irene Dunne, Katharine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell — Clooney has less frequently found a perfect match. Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air” and Meryl Streep in “Fantastic Mr. Fox” deserve mentioning. But, really, Clooney’s best chemistry was back in 1998’s “Out of Sight” with Jennifer Lopez — a love that bloomed in the dark trunk of a car.

“Ticket to Paradise,” which opens in theaters Thursday, is a more old-fashioned proposition: a movie built strictly — and without apologies — on the charisma of its two stars.

Roberts and Clooney play Georgia and David Cotton, a bitterly divorced set of parents whose daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), is fresh out of law school. Just before she takes a demanding job with a top firm, Lily and her best friend, Wren (Billie Lourd), set off on a trip to Bali. (Here, Australia doubles for the Indonesian island.) Lily immediately falls in love with a local seaweed farmer named Gede (Maxime Bouttier) and they decide to marry within days.

For Georgia and David, such a wedding is a four-alarm fire. They fly out straight away to sabotage it, a scheme that dredges up plenty of their own unresolved issues about divorce. “Nothing’s forever,” David hisses to his son-in-law-to-be. It’s an unholy alliance. They bicker constantly, so much so that it’s clear that their feelings are still strong for one another. I know this probably comes as a shock. Maybe sit down before reading this next sentence. But, yes, the events of “Ticket to Paradise” will bring them closer again. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

OK, so Parker’s film, written by him and Daniel Pipski, is not exactly out here to reinvent the wheel. Predictability is part of the appeal of “Ticket to Paradise,” and you can’t say it doesn’t succeed in that. The familiar beats get played with sincerity. A wince-inducing late-night dance floor sequence with House of Pain’s “Jump Around” arrives like a matter of prescribed ritual.

There are other traditions that fill “Ticket to Paradise” as the Cottons wrestle with and inevitably succumb to Balinese culture. But none so much as the customs of the rom-com. For me, “Ticket to Paradise” could have — like a lot of recent entries in the genre — greatly benefitted from a funny person taking a pass on the script. There’s not nearly as much to laugh at here as you might expect, as “Ticket to Paradise” remains mostly content, like a dozing beachgoer, to bask in the glow of its stars. Dever, hysterical in “Booksmart,” is also largely wasted in a bland role.

“Ticket to Paradise” goes down as a footnote to the many superior rom-coms Roberts has sparkled in before. And if I wanted to watch Clooney in a tropical locale, I’d choose Alexander Payne’s lovely “The Descendants.” Or for Clooney in divorcee plot, the Coens’ “Intolerable Cruelty,” with Catherine Zeta-Jones, would be the choice.

But if you just want to see Roberts and Clooney together, “Ticket to Paradise” clears that not-very-high bar with just enough charm. And, lest anyone doubt, the end-credits bloopers — which feel about as scripted as those that follow “Toy Story 2” — prove that everyone making “Ticket to Paradise” did, in fact, have a very good time.

“Ticket to Paradise,” a Universal release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for some strong language and brief suggestive material. Running time: 104 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Follow AP Film Writer Jake Coyle on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/jakecoyleAP

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Ticket to Paradise review: Julia Roberts and George Clooney ride a slow boat to midlife romance

They play divorcees bickering their way through Bali in Ol Parker's shiny, anodyne comedy.

Leah Greenblatt is the critic at large at Entertainment Weekly , covering movies, music, books, and theater. She is a member of the New York Film Critics Circle, and has been writing for EW since 2004.

Their hair is still glorious; their teeth gleam like satellites. It's the rom-coms that got small, not these monolithic movie stars, and Ticket to Ride (in theaters Friday) is apparently the best that 2022 could conjure for two of the genre's last unicorns: an antic wisp of sun-soaked shenanigans, as light and vaporous as a Bali breeze.

That's actually where the story lands after a brief, pained exposition: Divorced for two decades, L.A. gallerist Georgia ( Julia Roberts ) and architect David ( George Clooney ) are happy to interact as little as possible beyond the one good thing their union produced, a daughter named Lily ( Dopesick 's Kaitlyn Dever ). She's a smart, sweet kid, a newly minted law-school graduate off to Indonesia with her best friend ( Billie Lourd ) for a little post-grad Rumspringa before real life begins. And then, something like 37 days later, she's in love — engaged to a local Bali boy (Maxime Bouttier), and ready to shed her career plans for a life as a seaweed farmer's wife.

Cue the parental freakout; soon Georgia and David are on a plane, united in their determination to stop Lily from making their same matrimonial mistakes, even if they can hardly stand to share an armrest. Will they bicker endlessly? With pleasure. Will there be pratfalls and misunderstandings? Uncountable. Might they fall in love all over again? Oh, hush your mouth. Director Ol Parker , who also cowrote the screenplay with Daniel Pipski, is probably best known as the man behind 2018's musical fizz-supreme Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again , and he gives Ticket that same kind of Technicolor gloss, minus the spangled jumpsuits and the ABBA soundtrack (though Roberts does seem to wear a lot of rompers here).

The movie's set pieces are stacked with luxe location shots, like Nancy Meyers with a passport, and broad, mugging comedy spills from every scene. Snake bites, lost boats, romantic betrayal; it's all treated with the same weight, which is to say none at all. Emily in Paris star Lucas Bravo is game and très français as Georgia's adoring airline-pilot boyfriend, and Lourd does what she can with a girl whose main character notes seem to be "kooky alcoholic." Bouttier, as Lily's dreamboat fiancé, has dime-sized dimples and few other distinguishing characteristics — though his extended family do get several buoyant scenes, mostly in the service of innocuous culture-clash punchlines.

That leaves Clooney and Roberts to do the heavy lifting on a script that might easily float away without their movie-star force field to hold it in place. The dialogue aims for snappy His Girl Friday -style repartee, though it more often lands on sitcom; the jokes — isn't marriage just a drag ? — are calibrated to reach the cheap seats, and so is the sentiment. The pair's chemistry feels more familial than romantic, really, but the power of their twined charisma seems like it should have its own collective noun: a pizzazz of mass appeal, a glamour of enchantment. There's no doubt both actors deserve sharper, less silly material than this, but when they're playing beer pong in a Bali bar and drunkenly pogo-ing to House of Pain's "Jump Around," Paradise is almost, for a moment, a place on Earth. Grade: C+

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• Inside the lush locations of Julia Roberts and George Clooney's fizzy rom-com Ticket to Paradise
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Review: ‘Ticket to Paradise’ has Julia Roberts and George Clooney, and that’s enough

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Like we needed any additional proof, but the breezy new romantic comedy “Ticket to Paradise” confirms that Julia Roberts and George Clooney still look great in the air, on dry land or out at sea; wearing formalwear, swimsuits and wetsuits; bickering, bantering and burying the hatchet.

A sleepless night in a humid jungle cannot defeat Roberts’ iconic hair or mess with Clooney’s perfectly maintained scruff. Likewise, a movie mostly absent of surprises and character details cannot fully vanquish the appeal of seeing these two movie stars at a time when the viability of both movies and stars has come into question. At one point, their characters are called dinosaurs. Part of the appeal of “Ticket to Paradise” is seeing Roberts and Clooney together before they — and this type of glossy studio entertainment — become extinct.

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Morbid? Hey, we’re all getting older. Even Clooney’s sandpaper stubble is now sometimes hard to pick up, its color more salt than pepper. But I’m not being grim so much as leaning into the wistful tone of “Ticket to Paradise,” which has its leads musing about missed opportunities and reminiscing about their younger days when they lived by the adage “Why save the good stuff for later?”

When the film begins, the good stuff between Georgia (Roberts) and David (Clooney) appears to be in the distant rearview mirror. We’re introduced to these characters as director Ol Parker (“Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”), who wrote the film with Daniel Pipski, cuts between them recalling how they met and impulsively married 25 years ago. Their accounts differ. “Her parents thought she was too young,” David remembers. Georgia’s take? “They thought he wasn’t good enough for me.”

But again … distant rearview mirror. Georgia and David divorced 20 years ago for reasons, we learn, they themselves don’t seem to truly understand. That hasn’t stopped them from fashioning a festering animosity over the course of two decades, so much so that their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), can’t bring herself to tell them that they’ll be seated next to each other at her college graduation. Good thing they’ll never have to see each other again, right? Right???

Plot mechanics necessitate a reunion, and we get one after Lily heads to Bali with her BFF, Wren (Billie Lourd), and decides to marry the first local seaweed farmer she meets, Gede (Maxime Bouttier). Mom and Dad pack their resortwear, call a truce and agree to a strategy: They’ll outwardly support their daughter’s plans, all the while sabotaging the wedding so the youngsters don’t make the same mistake that they made all those years ago.

Roberts has experience in this sort of thing, of course, having schemed to break up Cameron Diaz and Dermot Mulroney 25 years ago (!) in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.” This movie is not as good as that rom-com classic , which featured a peak Rupert Everett and a subversive screenplay that wasn’t afraid to shade Roberts as a villain, albeit one you still rooted for. (Mostly. Maybe?)

“Ticket to Paradise” doesn’t invest enough time or energy into the young lovers for you to care whether or not they make it to the altar. This movie is all about beautiful people, gorgeous scenery and the elders rekindling their romance, with the primary obstacles on that front being Georgia’s annoyingly adoring French boyfriend (the appealing Lucas Bravo from “Emily in Paris”) and the time it takes for them to realize their biggest mistake wasn’t their marriage, but their divorce.

But, if you’ve seen the movie’s trailer (or even if you haven’t), you probably know all that. Just as you know that Roberts’ unbridled laugh remains one of the great pleasures of film and that Clooney can play awkward dorkiness just as convincingly as suave elegance. If “Top Gun: Maverick’s” secret weapon was Tom Cruise going Mach 10, “Ticket to Paradise” attains its peak with Roberts and Clooney playing a fierce game of beer pong while silly dancing around to House of Pain .

Dinosaurs? Maybe. But let’s hope the asteroid doesn’t hit for a while.

'Ticket to Paradise'

Rated: PG-13, for some strong language and brief suggestive material Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes Playing: Starts Oct. 21 in general release

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“Ticket to Paradise,” Reviewed: Let These Stick Figures Riff and Dance!

By Richard Brody

The sharp recent decline in willingness to date a person across party lines isn’t the reason why the romantic comedy is near-dead, but it’s indicative of the problem. The rom-com genre is inherently plot-driven, whereas few viewers any longer doubt that romance itself is anything but character-driven. Romantic comedies are mechanisms devised around characters with exactly the traits that appear to be obstacles to their romance; the machinery of the plot determines whether they will fall in love despite those traits or because of them. Today, the tightly formatted genre produces the stories that know too little: few viewers are likely to overlook the meshing of details, the shared passions and life goals, the mutual discoveries, the connections of experiences and world views, outlooks and ambitions, on which enduring relationships are built. Few are dupes about the spark of love at first sight, the fire of attraction—not because such instant yet powerful bonds are false or unreliable but, on the contrary, because they can signify the immediate recognition of a vast spectrum of hidden connections and affinities that will fuel the flames over time.

That’s a long way of saying that the stick figures set in motion in rom-coms get their simulation of amplitude from star power. The lead actors must convey a volume of personality and a weight of experience that the scripted characters don’t. “Ticket to Paradise,” starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts (such is their billing), depends on that power to fill out a simple framework of a story. It offers them too little to work with—too little guidance, too much empty space to fill. The couple that they play is burdened with a personal history that the movie never develops, never even discloses; their action is focussed on a second couple—one involving their daughter—that gets even less character development. To the extent that the movie’s charm depends on that of its two stars, they’re forced so rigidly into the plot’s contrivances that they have hardly any room to maneuver, hardly any chance to be merely observed, and are snippeted to live-action publicity stills of themselves.

Georgia Cotton (Roberts), a high-powered gallery owner, and David Cotton (Clooney), a big-project architect, were married for five years, divorced two decades ago, and have lived apart ever since, in unquenched acrimony and mutual recrimination. They haven’t been able to avoid each other because they have a daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), who, to launch the action, graduates from law school. (Even the former couple’s attendance at the ceremony leads to a public bout of competitive bickering.) With a job awaiting her, Lily heads to a tropical resort in Bali for a vacation with her best friend, Wren (Billie Lourd). There, in a moment of panic during an open-sea swim, Lily cute-meets Gede (Maxime Bouttier), a young man from the island who works as a seaweed farmer, and it’s love at first sight. Lily and Gede plan to marry quickly; they’ll live in Bali, and Lily will give up her lawyerly job (indeed, she seems ready to give up her legal career). When Lily tells her parents of this plan, they spring into action, flying to Bali ostensibly to attend the wedding but actually to put into motion a harebrained scheme to prevent it—to break the young couple up and get Lily home, to work, and to the life she’d otherwise leave behind.

Even before the plot gears mesh, the squabbling of David and Georgia is both obvious and flimsy. On the one hand, the backbiting is so easygoing and intimate that it sounds from the start like the banter of a longtime couple rather than the bile of a busted-up one; yet, on the other, there’s nothing in the movie to suggest why their breakup was so bitter, why the venom remains. The emptiness of their shared hatred is of a piece with the blanked-out generality of the characters themselves. The two worldly protagonists have nothing to say, not to each other, not to others, not even to text or e-mail friends. The movie, written by Ol Parker (who also directed) and Daniel Pipski, reduces them to mere symbols of middle-aged, mid-career success, with nothing, much less experience or sensibility, to show for it, except for another great unspoken: money.

In the long-ago Hollywood that sputtered out around the time that the Cottons’ marriage did, in which character types took precedence over character, money may have been no subject. In “Ticket to Paradise,” the protagonists’ wealth raises questions that the movie never faces, even though it’s the very basis of the plot. Not only do Georgia and David drop everything for their trip, which they stuff with unquestioned comforts and luxuries, but they appear to have conveyed that level of economic freedom—and the blithe confidence that goes with it—to Lily herself. So it seems, yet one wouldn’t know, because Lily and Gede are similarly blanked out by the movie’s schematic script. They’re the more interesting couple, and their apparent differences suggest an even more dramatic meshing of personalities, traits, and experiences. The depiction of the young pair’s immediate bond is done in a near-wink, with a clichéd shot of the beaming and breathless Lily, and leaves them with almost nothing defined except—in a telling touch that suggests this nonwhite, ostensible “exotic” is really just like “us”—for Gede explaining that he and his father, also a seaweed farmer, have a contract with Whole Foods. The very essence of the plot is the elder Cottons’ instrumentalizing of Lily and dismissal of Gede—the parents treating the young couple as the objects of their own designs, the instruments of their own will. Rather than counteract that cavalier egocentrism by developing Gede and Lily in any detail, the movie replicates and reinforces it.

Parker’s directorial purview is as narrow and cramped as the script. The chemistry between Roberts and Clooney is perfunctory, blandly amiable, and the stars never get to cut loose. The one noteworthy scene of flashy and invigorating physical action—it’s a dance to accompany a round of beer pong—is filmed so confiningly and edited so tightly as to resemble a thirty-second Viagra commercial. Even the natural glories of the island seem green-screened in. Only Gede’s father, Wayan (Agung Pindha), displays a genuine sense of humor; the sole touch of charm is a moment in which Gede shows that he has inherited it.

The overt innovation in the romantic comedies of Judd Apatow involves letting casts filled with funny people run wild with their humor. But the underlying innovation is perhaps the more important one: the structuring of his films on the missing, but implied, threshing- and fleshing-out of relationships through emotionally bruising conversations. His classics imply what I call the Cassavetes hour (yet there’s something Bergmanic about it, too)—the implicit power of his characters’ complexity, which is largely only suggested, but decisively. (“Ticket to Paradise” doesn’t even imply a Cassavetes minute.) The latter-day romantic comedy that puts such scenes into action, Noah Baumbach’s “ Greenberg ,” looks candidly at the dramatic implications of romance based more on character than on situations. In “Ticket to Paradise,” Parker sticks with antiquated romantic-comedy archetypes; in the process, he overlooks and effaces the two engaging couples at the center of the action. He omits the substance, the human factor, that would bring his spare yet solid framework to life. ♦

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Ticket To Paradise Review

16 Sep 2022

Ticket To Paradise

Over the last decade, filmmaker Ol Parker has made a name for himself by taking A-list stars, sending them to an idyllic holiday destination, and having them explore matters of life and love. The writer of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and its sequel, and writer-director of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again , applies the same basic principles to Ticket To Paradise – a rare, throwbacky major-studio romcom that boasts beautiful people in beautiful places as its main raison d’être, while sneaking in deeper notions around familial expectations and intergenerational differences.

This time, the beautiful people are George Clooney and Julia Roberts – teaming up for the fifth time on the big screen, a double-whammy of movie star mega-wattage – as divorcées David and Georgia, a couple whose acrimonious split finds them only able to (just about) communicate when it concerns their daughter Lily ( Kaitlyn Dever ). The beautiful place is Bali, where Lily has gone travelling with best friend Wren ( Billie Lourd , in a welcome Booksmart reunion with Dever) after finishing her law degree – before swiftly getting engaged to dashing Balinese guy Gede (Maxime Bouttier), much to her parents’ concern. Remembering how their own idealised connection collapsed under real-life strains, they set out to thwart Lily’s nuptials. What are the chances that their own spark might reunite in the process?

Clooney and Roberts display all-out charisma both in their snippy sniping, and when in cahoots with one another.

If you never doubt for a second where Ticket To Paradise is going, the journey there is solidly constructed. The traditional rom and com elements are present and correct, the script peppered with the kinds of humourous antics and goofy setpieces the genre demands: a mission to steal the loved-up couple’s rings; a parents-vs-kids beer pong match with the beer substituted for a local eye-watering spirit; perilous encounters with violent dolphins and a venomous snake. But as with his previous work, Parker – who co-writes with Daniel Pipski, as well as directing – brings in a solid amount of character drama too, affording time to explore why David and Georgia’s love crashed and burned so spectacularly, fleshing out Lily and Gede’s maybe-not-that-crazy-after-all romantic connection, and building in believable concerns about history threating to repeat itself.

That level of substance means that Ticket To Paradise isn’t quite the all-out screwball jaunt that the trailers present – and though depth to the characterisation is welcome, it feels at odds with moments of artificiality in the filmmaking. This is a film where Roberts emerges with salon-fresh hair after a night out in a Balinese jungle, and where – for all the golden beaches of Australia, where it was filmed – a number of shots feel oddly-lit and composited, the actors visually disconnected from their lavish environment. Plus, its wilful propensity for cheese – particularly a final freeze-frame – occasionally veers into unintended comedy.

But the real draw of Ticket To Paradise is the bickering, bubbling chemistry of Clooney and Roberts set against sun-kissed climes – and there it absolutely delivers, the duo displaying all-out charisma both in their snippy sniping, and when in cahoots with one another. Their gradual reconnection becomes genuinely touching, and even though you know what’s coming, the film finds its way there effectively. If it’s not a ticket to all-out cinematic paradise, it is at least a ticket back to a genre that’s vanishingly rare on the big screen these days.

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Ticket to Paradise review – George Clooney and Julia Roberts go heavy on the goof

Double act have some silly fun as a couple sizzling with mutual irritation who head to Bali to sabotage their daughter’s marriage

G eorge Clooney goes into his goofy comedy routine in this feelmoderate romcom from director and co-writer Ol Parker: an intergenerational tale of Crazy Rich Americans going to a wedding. Clooney brings some serious goof: he does his goofy face and the goof is onstream more or less from the outset. This may be to the unease of those who like him in a more sophisticated low-key style, such as in Ocean’s Eleven or Up in the Air, or those who look to the Coens to rein in and shape his broader comedy tendencies, as in O Brother, Where Art Thou? or Intolerable Cruelty.

Clooney plays David, a prosperous man in middle age who is divorced from high-flying art dealer Georgia; this is Julia Roberts . They were college sweethearts who got married way too early and split unhappily after the birth of their only child. But now, despite their sizzling mutual irritation, they must come together to attend the college graduation of their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), who has learned to suffer her parents’ undignified outbursts and immature tantrums with each other. Lily then heads off for a much-deserved holiday in Bali with her friend Wren (Billie Lourd), and there meets and falls in love with local seaweed farmer Gede (Maxime Bouttier). David and Georgia are horrified to receive the wedding invitation and agree on a cessation of hostilities to head out there, on a secret mission to sabotage this hasty marriage and save Lily from the same mistake they made.

There are one or two likably silly and daft moments in this film. Lucas Bravo (from Emily in Paris) has an amusing small part as Paul, the smoothie French airline pilot that Georgia is now dating and who – to David’s intense chagrin – is flying them to Bali. And it’s sweet when Georgia and David get drunk with the young couple and insist on playing beer pong in the street and doing embarrassing mum- and dad-dancing to some tunes from yesteryear. But I couldn’t help thinking that Nancy Meyers (the master of this kind of thing) would have created more dialogue, more situational intrigue, more comedy, and might have reined in Clooney. But Roberts’ part is within her skillset and Dever is fine also – although the latter’s performance in Olivia Wilde’s comedy Booksmart showed what she can do with a properly funny script. And it’s a shame that there wasn’t more for Lourd’s character to do.

Ticket to Paradise may well do great business to those looking for some escapist fun, and that’s entirely understandable. But I found the wacky double-act of George and Julia slightly hard work.

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George Clooney and Julia Roberts might want a refund on this Ticket To Paradise

A-listers clooney and roberts are saddled with a d-list script in this rom-com about bickering exes who band together to stop their daughter's quickie marriage.

It would be easy to shrug away Ticket To Paradise as something mild and airy that goes down smooth—an easy pick for an airplane watch, or if you’re ever stuck in a hotel with basic cable. But you will find no such pussyfooting here. This movie stinks, truly stinks, and the fact that it had the component parts to be a winner makes it all the more frustrating.

George Clooney and Julia Roberts, the last among a certain kind of Hollywood A-lister, play estranged couple David and Georgia. He is an architect, or something, because we see him stomping around a construction site with a hardhat, and it’s unlikely that he’s tying steel. We see Georgia at her enormous L.A. gallery, mocking the modern art that she’s selling. (“I think it’s upside down,” she says. I believe I saw a similar gag on The Flintstones .) The point is they are both super successful, but we never see them talking about their work and they’ve got the time to disappear for a while without checking in or taking meetings or anything. I can barely do that and I write about movies on the internet, for God’s sake, that’s a notch below dog catcher.

Their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) has just graduated from law school, so as a gift to herself before starting work at a big firm she’s taking her best pal Wren (Billie Lourd) on a trip to Bali. (Wren is bringing an enormous supply of multi-colored condoms.) While there, Lily becomes enchanted by a hunky seaweed farmer (it happens!) named Gede (Maxime Bouttier), and soon thereafter she sends a message back to her parents: I’m getting married.

While David and Georgia truly can’t stand to be in the same room together, they agree to present a united front—they will fly to Bali and try and knock some sense into their daughter. They concoct the strategy to appear to be cool with the decision, but sow seeds of doubt.

There’s nothing about this that isn’t fertile ground for a good old fashioned screwball comedy. The problem is that director Ol Parker, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Pipski, seems completely allergic to jokes. Bring a microscope with you to a screening of Ticket to Paradise and report back if you can find anything funny. Is Dever shouting “Dad, you’re embarrassing me!!” while Clooney mugs and shakes his rump to C+C Music Factory considered humor? Maybe to those who have given up on movies it is.

Clooney, it has well been established, has comedy chops, but there’s only so much he can do with no written material. He contours his voice and smirks, weaving his head to put as much spin as he can on barbs and would-be witticisms, but this gets tiresome after about 10 minutes. His zings at his ex-wife eventually paint him as an unlikable jerk. Roberts’ abundant natural charisma is lost, unfortunately, when she’s portraying just another wealthy white woman in paradise.

Kaitlyn Dever, so very funny in Booksmart , has a one-note character here: she is defined by being in love with her new boyfriend. Why? Well, he’s handsome, and he seems committed to a mellow life harvesting seaweed in a very photogenic spot. He’s also madly in love with her, but he’s got even less motivation. She’s straight-up boring, and you need to figure that vacationing college grads come in by the busloads, no? There’s nothing about her that stands out. If anything, Billie Lourd’s character has 10 times the personality (and dresses with more panache, too.) It just feels like someone sketched “they are in love” on a first draft of this screenplay and never got back around to filling it in.

The Bali of Ticket To Paradise is a joke. Most of the movie is set at a luxe resort, except for an engagement party thrown by Rege’s extended family. Here we get a surface view of Balinese culture, seen only on a beach. We see no real life. No one goes to a grocery store in this movie. There’s no depth, other than everyone is saintly. Here was an opportunity to dig in to a fascinating culture (google “Balinese monkey chant”) and present it against modernity, and we got nothing. And while it’s obvious that David and Georgia (and we, the audience) are meant to ultimately support this marriage, no one bothers to ask basic questions. What is she going to do there? Her career plans have gone from the legal world to “hanging out.” Can a couple live on love and seaweed alone?

Ticket To Paradise already opened in Europe and is doing quite well, and this year’s The Lost City , while a bit more high concept (and entertaining), shows that comedies with A-listers with advancing age can still draw people to the theater. The location photography in this one is certainly pleasant (each character has their own “I’ve never seen anything more gorgeous” moment) so the fault here really lies with the writing and direction. It’s as if everyone made this movie about the joy of being on vacation—while also taking one.

‘Ticket to Paradise’ Review: Come for George Clooney and Julia Roberts, Stay for Not Much Else

Sometimes just having your mum like a movie is enough.

It’s okay to enjoy bad films. We all need escapism, particularly in the dreary winter months when summer has well and truly passed, but the excitement of Christmas is still beyond reach. Major movie studios know exactly this and so, they release movies at this time of the year for those too scared to go see Halloween Ends . They transport us to faraway lands with white sand and crystal clear water, where rich white people get themselves into a series of predicaments that always ends with a wedding and a resolution. Ticket to Paradise is one such film. Christ, look at the title. It promises you a tropical escape, but it's vague enough to cater to any moviegoer. Reteaming the dynamic duo of George Clooney and Julia Roberts , this is the perfect movie to go see with your mother and two aunts—as I did.

Georgia (Roberts) and David (Clooney) Cotton are a divorced couple who can't stand the sight of each other. They don't ignore each other with icy stares—they resemble antagonistic siblings, always finding a new low to sink to in order to insult the other or come out on top. They reunite for their daughter Lily’s ( Kaitlyn Dever ) graduation, and see her off to Bali for three months with her friend, Wren (a criminally underused Billie Lourd ). Two months later, they receive word that Lily will not be returning to the States to start a prosperous career as a lawyer as was planned. She is getting married to a local guy she just met and will live with him and his family in Bali. And sure enough, desperate times call for desperate measures. Georgia and David put their many, many differences aside to sabotage the wedding and make Lily see some sense. But they soon find out that maybe Lily is the only one in the family who is seeing things clearly.

Again, it is okay to enjoy movies like these. Movies catered to a certain audience with more of an eye on money than artistic integrity. But, there has to come a point when a line is drawn, and you can just acquiesce that a movie is bad. This is essentially a rom-com, but with more of a focus on family than romance. For those who think rom-com automatically means “bad,” well, I direct your attention to Bridget Jones’s Diary and When Harry Met Sally . Some rom-coms have some of the best, smartest, and wittiest scripts in all cinema. Charming humor that goes straight to the heart and makes you reeling for the lead two to end up together. Despite Roberts and Clooney’s best efforts, you’re not feeling this way as you’re watching the credits (and the bloopers) roll for Ticket to Paradise .

RELATED: Julia Roberts and George Clooney on ‘Ticket to Paradise’ & the First Thing You Should Watch If You’ve Never Seen Their Work

Ticket to Paradise really could have been produced in any year. Apart from the characters’ ways to communicate via phone etc. and a montage at the beginning of Lily and Wren’s social media posts, there’s no real indication that this is a movie of the 2020s. No reference to the social or political landscape of the world. Barely any pop culture references to place a certain zeitgeist. The movie is so far removed from the rest of the world that it creates a disconnect between itself and the audience. The only welcome sign of the times is the inclusion of a central character of color - Lily’s Indonesian fiancée, Gede ( Maxime Bouttier ). If this movie was made in the late 90s, you best believe Lily would have met a dashing Wasp boy from Connecticut who also happens to be holidaying in Bali at the exact same time!

Despite its faults, one thing is for certain: Julia Roberts and George Clooney are having the time of their lives and there has to be something said for that. So often we see big stars doing movies that pay well, but they see it as beneath them - and it’s obvious that they’re not even trying to immerse themselves in the project. Roberts and Clooney - three Oscars between them and monikers as two of the best actors working today - do not fall into this category. They give it their all. Whether it's Georgia being disgustingly cutesy with her younger pilot beau ( Emily in Paris ’s Lucas Bravo is undoubtedly the comedic highlight of the movie) or David getting hit by a CGI dolphin, the two legends are game.

Who gets caught in the wreck, sadly, is Kaitlyn Dever. Dever has proven to be an exciting part of young Hollywood with roles in Booksmart , Beautiful Boy , and her Emmy-nominated performance in Dopesick . Lily is a particularly one-note character who seems to only be there to drive the action between Clooney and Roberts. Although the entire plot is meant to be about the parents’ embracing that she is an adult who can think for herself, the script barely grants her any agency as a character. The scenes between her and Gede can become a bit too YA-leaning, with some pretty corny dialogue, but then Roberts and Clooney do a brilliant job of bringing the film back down to earth. Their ratty arguments and relentless cynicism cut through the sweetness of the movie like salt, and it’s exactly what we need when it starts to feel like the movie came out of Hallmark.

A quick word on the direction: This comes from Ol Parker who gave us Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again . While not totally dissimilar to his most recent release, Parker fails to bring the same sense of worldliness and charm that he did with the Mamma Mia sequel. The camera work feels shaky at times in Ticket to Paradise , with close-up shots lingering a bit too long. Although there are some really gorgeous shots of the Bali islands, it all feels a bit too synthetic to become fully immersed in, unlike the Greek island of Mamma Mia which feels like a character itself. There is, quite literally, so much scenery to chew on, but Parker opts to focus on human real estate instead.

Look, Ticket to Paradise is your average, white people in the sun, rom-com. Is it fine cinema? No, but that's not the right lens to look through it with. But that doesn't mean that it gets to avoid all criticism. To see Clooney and Roberts team up again when they have demonstrated in the past (the Oceans movies and Money Monster ) that they go together like rum and coke is a lot of fun, but it also makes it undeniably noticeable that they deserve better. I don't mean an Oscar-worthy dramatic biopic. But a rom-com with some nuance and wit. I can say with a lot of confidence that if it had actors that were even a smidgen less than Roberts and Clooney, the movie would be unwatchable. Ticket to Paradise , if anything, is an example of the importance of star power and how sometimes a lousy script can be swept aside for two old friends taking center stage once again. It kept my mother laughing, and it served as a nice lullaby as my two aunts dozed off - sometimes, bad movies create the best cinema experiences.

Ticket to Paradise comes to theaters on October 21.

Screen Rant

Ticket to paradise review: roberts & clooney charm in enjoyably mediocre rom-com.

Ticket to Paradise seems too afraid to dig into the romantic aspects, but it makes up for it by being charming, sweet, and occasionally funny.

Though there has been a resurgence of romantic comedies thanks to Netflix and other streamers, rom-coms released solely to theaters are few and far between. Even Marry Me , the Jennifer Lopez and Owen Wilson-led rom-com, was released directly to Peacock in addition to receiving a theatrical release earlier this year. Starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, Ticket to Paradise is reminiscent of an era long gone. Directed by Ol Parker, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daniel Pipski, Ticket to Paradise seems too afraid to dig into the romantic aspects, but it makes up for it by being charming, sweet, and occasionally funny.

Georgia (Roberts) and David (Clooney) Cotton loathe one another. After five years of marriage, they divorced and have been living the last 25 years in relief of being away from each other. When their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), meets Gede (Maxime Bouttier) while on vacation in Bali, their decision to get married after only a month knowing each other leads Georgia and David to Bali in a bid to stop her from making a big mistake. Lily seems happy, but Georgia and David hatch a plan to sabotage the wedding. However, their time in Bali reopens old wounds and feelings that brings them to reanalyze their relationship.

Related: Ticket To Paradise: George Clooney's 8 Best Romantic Roles, According To IMDb

Ticket to Paradise is a perfectly serviceable rom-com, leaning into certain tropes without overdoing it or lingering too long on unnecessary moments and dialogue. It has elements of Mamma Mia! and My Best Friend’s Wedding , but it’s far more diluted in execution. The humor is there, but it is aggressively toned down once Georgia and David's bickering starts to taper off — the latter is a detriment to a film that is built around their very contentious relationship, and it's dialed back far too soon. The film has a simple enough plot, one that doesn't add a lot of depth to any of the characters. The story is carried by the charisma of Clooney and Roberts, who have it in spades. The actors' charm is infectious and, even when the film could have evolved past the thin script, their banter and genuine warmth do a lot of the heavy lifting. Dever matches their energy and, though not as effusively charismatic or strong in terms of screen presence, is able to hold her own and make the most of her character's story.

Despite solid performances and Clooney and Roberts' chemistry , the film holds back on the romance itself. There is very little of it beyond a few longing looks and a heated kiss. Most of the buildup happens through conversation and reactions to Georgia's relationship with Paul (Lucas Bravo), a pilot who is the exact opposite of Clooney's David. Had Ticket to Paradise included a few more romantic scenes, it would have done wonders for the plot and the central characters' relationship, which doesn't get enough big moments. Perhaps Parker and Pipski were trying to avoid making the film too trope-y, but with Roberts and Clooney at the forefront, the film could have played it less safe.

Still, Ticket to Paradise is an overall enjoyable time at the movies. It helps that the rom-com has a gorgeous location as its setting — the beaches, sunsets, and intimate setting elevate an otherwise basic premise. The film is sentimental without going overboard, and it has sweet, heartfelt moments that are well-acted. Parker doesn’t hold onto any moment longer than need be, which prevents the story from becoming tedious. There are enough chuckle-worthy moments to buy into the initial hatred Georgia and David have for one another, but as their iciness thaws, it makes way for some genuine tenderness that will warm viewers’ hearts.

Next: The School For Good & Evil Review: A Delightful & Heartfelt Twist On Fairy Tales

Ticket to Paradise released in theaters on Friday, October 21. The film is 104 minutes long and is rated PG-13 for some strong language and brief suggestive material.

Ticket to Paradise (United States/United Kingdom, 2022)

Ticket to Paradise is a frothy concoction that will appeal to those whose movie-loving sensibilities are anchored to the rom-coms of the 1980s and 1990s. Had this movie been made 25 years ago, it likely would have been hailed for its whimsy, for the chemistry exhibited between leads George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and for the repartee that characterizes the best of their interactions. Those things remain true in 2022 but audiences have moved on from the genre, which is marooned on Lifetime TV and Netflix. Although this features high wattage stars, it represents a curiously anachronistic attempt at escapist fare.

Clooney and Roberts are great together, which isn’t unexpected. Both are Oscar-winners on merit and there was an era when each could command the heftiest of paychecks. In recent years, they have scaled back their acting engagements but, despite doing so, they have retained their ability to captivate audiences. Unfortunately, there’s not much to Ticket to Paradise beyond their mutual charisma. Essentially, this is the story of how two ex-spouses rediscover the things about their relationship that brought them together in the first place. There’s not a lot more to it than that.

If Ticket to Paradise had been all about the two stars, it would have been fine, but it’s not and therein lies the problem. The Clooney/Roberts dynamic is too frequently interrupted by another plotline – a dull, unimaginative clunker of a love story between Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) and her fiancé Gede (Maxime Bouttier). Every narrative thread featuring these two characters reeks of artifice. It’s the catalyst for bringing the divorced couple together (their parting wasn’t amicable and things haven’t gotten better during the intervening years) and plunking them down in “paradise” a.k.a. Bali (which is actually Queensland, Australia).

Watching Ol Parker’s tepid film provides a lesson in the still-potent currency of movie stardom. Replace Clooney and Roberts with two lesser-known (and lesser) actors and no one would consider seeing Ticket to Paradise because it wouldn’t be worth the price of admission (even if it was free). Rom-coms are heavily dependent on the chemistry between actors and the Clooney/Roberts combo can conjure sparks out of thin air. Their snarky combativeness is believable when it needs to be and their growing renewed affection is equally palpable.

Parker’s goal with Ticket to Paradise isn’t to re-invent the romantic comedy for a 2020 audience but, even with the more modest intention of offering a throw-back, he doesn’t succeed as well as he should have. He’s got the right actors and the perfect setting (Queensland makes for a beautiful Bali stand-in). All he’s missing is a good screenplay. And, despite having the magic that that comes from pairing movie maestros, he can’t conjure greatness (or even competency) out of the pages that tell this disappointing tale.

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Ticket to Paradise review — a watered-down, sunbaked comedy

This review of the film Ticket to Paradise does not contain spoilers.

Sure, you may have seasoned veteran actors and Hollywood royalty George Clooney and Julia Roberts headline the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise. However, Kaitlyn Dever gives the “sweet” story of parental protection and redemption the heart the film sorely needed. Dever plays Lily Cotton, who has graduated from law school and her parents have auspicious aspirations for her. She then goes on a celebration with her best friend in a tropical paradise. Her parents (Clooney and Roberts) are divorced but cannot stand each other, flying down to break up her upcoming nuptials.

To whom exactly? She just met a dashing seaweed farmer named Gede ( Maxime Bouttier ). Wow, sweet, right? It’s not exactly the classic rom-com trope of future monster-in-laws who hate the fiance. It’s the fact that her parents, David and Georgia, hate each other. But there is one thing they love more than anything: their daughter’s future. You may argue they aren’t considering her happiness, but they are in their way. You see, they don’t want Lily to make the same mistakes they did by marrying so young.

If you have your head, big old pie in the sky, Ticket to Paradise welcomely and shamelessly tries to manipulate you into thinking love can conquer all. (Even as hard as the ending attempts to give themselves an out by not committing either way). The more cynical of us, myself included, will tell you her parents are probably right. And seeing how your life and relationship are outside a tropical paradise bubble may not just be sensible but a reasonable choice. Since writer-director Ol Parker ( Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel ) specializes in exotic overseas fluffernutter, storytelling isn’t great art. Still, there’s nothing to take umbrage about with a bit of eye-candy diversion. Let’s then focus on what the film does well and where it lacks credibility regarding leading streaming entertainment.

For one, the delightful cross-banter between long-time collaborators in such films as the Ocean’s franchise , Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Money Monster (yes, they have made a lot of stinkers together), their sharp barbs cut, but not too deep and have a Sam and Dianne sexual tension that can be appealing. Their teamwork, trying to undercut the marriage, is amusing, and Lily’s best friend, Wren, played by Booksmart ‘s Billie Lourd , offers a nice comic relief.

The problem is the script doesn’t offer enough moments of fun or even bristling zingers that the story could clearly provide. There is only one genuine attempt to derail the wedding. Adding additional attempts would have easily added more moments of comedy. Lourd’s Wren sorely needed more screen time, and Bouttier’s Gege is too stiff, with no real moments of friction. When Clooney offers insight into how his marriage crumbled, the moment comes across as empty and even incredulous.

As much as we can forgive the two legends for wanting to make a film in a tropical oasis during their golden professional years, Ticket to Paradise is a watered-down product too concerned with pleasing everyone instead of establishing an interesting point of view, even despite the entertaining jabs and an always-welcome Dever. However, if you’re a fan of this type of classic genre film and would instead stare at some legendary Hollywood figures that offer a welcome distraction from a lazy story, Ticket to Paradise is the film for you.

Article by Marc Miller

Marc Miller (also known as M.N. Miller) joined Ready Steady Cut in April 2018 as a Film and TV Critic, publishing over 1,600 articles on the website. Since a young age, Marc dreamed of becoming a legitimate critic and having that famous “Rotten Tomato” approved status – in 2023, he achieved that status.

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Ticket to Paradise review: A bubbly, old-school star vehicle

“Ticket to Paradise is an overly formulaic, cliché-ridden rom-com that, thanks to Julia Roberts and George Clooney's inimitable chemistry, still has the power to put a smile on your face.”

• George Clooney and Julia Roberts' chemistry
• Fun, screwball banter
• A lush, inviting setting
• An overly predictable story
• A thinly written romantic subplot
• Forgettable supporting characters

Ticket to Paradise feels like it belongs to a bygone era, one in which romantic comedies starring two reliably charming movie stars were a dime a dozen. Twenty years ago, the film, which reunites Julia Roberts and George Clooney as a divorced couple who team up to prevent their daughter’s wedding to a man she just met, likely would have come and gone and been one of the more forgettable summer releases of its respective year. Nowadays, Ticket to Paradise feels like an undeniably refreshing change of pace from so many of the action- and superhero-centric studio releases that Hollywood puts out every year.

More than anything, the film is a potent reminder of the power of movie stars. In an era where Hollywood seems to care less and less about its actors and more and more about the spandex-covered roles they fill, Ticket to Paradise reminds us of how much joy can come from watching two people who were born to appear on a big screen get the chance to go toe-to-toe with each other. Clooney and Roberts have, notably, both retained the same undeniable charisma that made them global icons in the first place, and Ticket to Paradise , to its credit, understands how little it needs to do when its leads are actually on the screen together.

The film, which was directed by Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again! filmmaker Ol Parker, doesn’t waste any time introducing its two stars, either. Through a series of overlapping scenes and quick cuts, Ticket to Paradise establishes the whirlwind romance that first brought Clooney and Roberts’ David and Georgia Cotton together, as well as the divorce that has soured their relationship ever since. By the time the film begins, David and Georgia have grown so tired of each other that they routinely call their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), in order to make sure they won’t be seated together at any of her school events.

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David and Georgia agree to temporarily put aside the grudges they hold against each other, however, when they learn that Lily has decided to abandon her post-college dream of becoming a lawyer in order to marry Gede (Maxime Bouttier), a seaweed farmer she meets while on vacation in Bali. Determined to prevent their daughter from jumping into the same kind of marriage that they did, David and Georgia begin plotting to secretly sabotage Lily and Gede’s wedding.

Odds are you already know where Ticket to Paradise ’s plot goes from there. To say that the film’s script, which Parker co-wrote with Daniel Pipski, doesn’t reinvent the rom-com wheel would be an understatement. The film itself often feels like an amalgamation of every rom-com trope and cliché, and many of its minor gags are nothing more than slightly new iterations of jokes that a million other Hollywood comedies have already done. Consequently, while Roberts and Clooney are frequently able to inject infectiously playful energy into Ticket to Paradise ’s otherwise stale script, the appeal of the film greatly declines whenever it cuts away from David and Georgia’s habitual bickering.

The romance between Dever’s Lily and Bouttier’s Gede, in particular, falls totally flat. The pair’s relationship is sketched so thinly that it’s impossible to become emotionally invested in their wedding, which causes major problems in Ticket to Paradise ’s third act when Parker and Pipski attempt to make it the film’s key source of drama. While Dever and Bouttier are both charming performers, their chemistry isn’t powerful enough to enliven Lily and Gedes’ few scenes together.

Dever, specifically, feels miscast in a role that lacks the kind of edge that has helped many of her previous characters and performances stand out. (This year’s Romeo & Juliet riff, Rosaline , gives Dever far more to do in a similarly lovestruck role.) The film’s overreliance on Roberts and Clooney’s abilities also results in a number of clunky scenes in which both David and Georgia are asked to give unnecessary, exposition-laden monologues.

Had these scenes starred anyone other than Clooney and Roberts, they’d be near-unwatchable. However, even with two of the most formidable movie stars of the past 30 years taking turns in the driver’s seat, the scenes themselves still land with a dull thud. In its third act, Ticket to Paradise also makes the unfortunate mistake of replacing the bitter antagonism present in David and Georgia’s relationship with a shared, disappointingly straightforward romanticism. The final minutes of Ticket to Paradise , in other words, see the film shed most of the humor and tension that made it so appealing in the first place.

Despite all these flaws, Ticket to Paradise still emerges as a bubbly and breezy rom-com. Its most appealing parts may be its most obvious, but the film wisely chooses to lean into its place as an old-school star vehicle rather than trying to buck against it. In doing so, Ticket to Paradise lets Clooney and Roberts prove, once again, what Hollywood is missing out on by abandoning the rom-com genre and leaving it to die, slowly but surely, on the industry’s various streaming services .

It’s for that reason, in fact, that it ultimately doesn’t matter how frequently Ticket to Paradise feels like it exists solely so that Roberts and Clooney could go on vacation together. That may very well have been how the project came together, but at least, in doing so, Clooney and Roberts have given us a new rom-com that feels like it deserves to be seen on a big screen, rather than only half-watched on a streaming service in the middle of the afternoon.

Ticket to Paradise hits theaters on Friday, October 21.

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