Ticket to Paradise–The Ride Isn’t Worth It!

In this fluff of a romantic comedy,  two of our most popular actors (Julia Roberts and George Clooney) tussle as a divorced couple–David and Georgia– begrudgingly thrown together to attend their daughter’s wedding in Bali.

David (Clooney) and Georgia (Roberts) were married 25 years ago, but their marriage lasted only five years, due to irreconcilable differences, mostly involving long hours of professional career-building absent from the spouse.  Now both privileged members of the 1%, they can move on with their lives in equally luxurious circumstances as an architect (David) and art gallery owner (Georgia). 

Their only child, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever from “Booksmart”),  a recent law school graduate,  rewards herself with a graduation trip with her best friend to Bali , deferring a prestigious law internship when she returns.  A ridiculously rapid-fire  romance ignites between Lily and a handsome Balinese seaweed farmer, who is dedicated to his family’s business.  Horrified at the prospect of their newly minted lawyer-daughter being “stuck” in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a seaweed farmer,  Georgia and David plot to sabotage the wedding plans and set aside years’ worth of bickering and  pettiness at the other’s expense.  Their daughter deserves better than the brief married life the parents had.

Scenes of Bali look like a government tourism promotional video.  The leanest of stories cannot deliver this mediocre comedy, even from two actors almost guaranteed to deliver tickets.  This is no ticket to paradise–but more of a very fat and shameless meal ticket/paycheck for Julia Roberts and George Clooney, who capitalize on their own cinematic charisma, not a story worth telling.

By basing Ticket to Paradise solely on Roberts and Clooney’s  box office magnetism,  the filmmakers attempt to fool us with the flimsiest  of stories about two long-divorced parents coming through for their daughter.  Even Clooney and Roberts cannot  save this movie.   What lured me to view this film was the “frothy chemistry” between George Clooney and Julia Roberts, whose marketing department kept underscoring how these two are a throwback to the megawatt silver-screen royals, Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Well, the chemistry is not what you remember.  Yes, there is Julia Roberts’ uncanny smile that at times seems “turned on” even when the story doesn’t call for it.  Is she herself grimacing at the mediocre excuse for a story? Overall, I watched this only because I was sick and couldn’t quite read a book.  Otherwise, spend your time doing something else.

Availability: Paramount+