![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Review-George-Clooney-and-Julia-Roberts-Add-Layers-of-Charm.jpg)
George Clooney, right, and Julia Roberts in Ticket to Paradise.Vince Valitutti/Universal Pictures via AP
ticket to paradise
Realized by Ol Parker
Writing by Ol Parker and Daniel Pipski
Featuring George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Kaitlyn Dever
Classification PG; 104 minutes
Opens in cinemas 21 oct.
A bitterly divorced couple fly to Bali to save their daughter from what seems like a vacation adventure turned quick marriage – what could go wrong? For ticket to paradiseThe last of Mama Mia! Here we go again writer-director Ol Parker, the answer is: just enough to push the plot forward.
Ocean 11 and silver monster Co-stars George Clooney and Julia Roberts reunite onscreen here as acrimonious divorcees David and Georgia, who — despite falling mad for each other 25 years ago — can barely bear to sit next to each other when summoning their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever). Fiercely resentful of each other, David and Georgia are quick to dull the feeling of any space they share with their barbed one-liners and whispered insults.
When Lily flies to Bali with her carefree best friend Wren (Billie Lourd) to decompress from final exams, what starts out as a simple vacation turns into a month-long affair and, finally, an engagement with a garden grower. good-hearted Balinese seaweed by the name of Gede (Maxime Bouttier). Shocked by the news of their daughter’s impending nuptials, Georgia and David ended their mutual antagonism and their plan to end the ceremony.
Everything that follows is less about the happiness of Lily or even Gede and her family (however welcoming and kind they are), and more about the specter of their own failed relationship, which threatens their daughter’s future. Despite the beautiful Balinese landscape and the generosity of Gede’s family in welcoming the couple, David and Georgia are determined to break up the young couple.
![](https://oponame.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1666317001_197_Review-George-Clooney-and-Julia-Roberts-Add-Layers-of-Charm.jpg)
Maxime Bouttier and Kaitlyn Dever, right, in Ticket to Paradise.Universal images via AP
The impact of their conspiratorial plans hits them quickly; Soon, David and Georgia must face the sad reality of actively disrupting their daughter and Gede’s happiness. What ticket to paradise does best is to sit with that aspect of its characters, which complicates the otherwise airy nature of its storyline and dialogues with the truth of David and Georgia’s self-centeredness.
Their negative qualities are all the more apparent when compared to Gede and his family, who maintain the moral compass of the film. It’s telling that only David and Georgia need to be aware of themselves and the world around them, and the interactions between Gede and his family help expose that reality (and provide some much-needed humor).
In many ways, ticket to paradise highlights the pedigree of its writer-director. Similar in tone to his earlier work with Mama Mia! It’s gone and The sleeping tube of 2004 Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (for which he wrote the screenplay), Parker’s latest film is an aerial and light adventure that skates tepidly on its own banality. Without scoring many points in terms of originality or audacity of vision, ticket to paradise knows exactly the audience he’s aiming for and hits his beats – no matter how obvious or cheesy.
Even if the effect of watching two megascreen icons joke around for an hour and the change doesn’t amount to much, Clooney and Roberts still have some kind of spark between them. It’s the exact kind of utterly innocuous, albeit bland, charisma that’s perfect for discreet weekend watching (even better in your pajamas and on your couch).
Special for the Globe and Mail
Plan your screen time with the weekly What to Watch newsletter. Register today.
#Review #George #Clooney #Julia #Roberts #Add #Layers #Charm #Romantic #Comedy #Ticket #Paradise