It’s been a while since we’ve had a big, sunny, romantic comedy starring two old-school movie stars, but the drought is now over. Starring none other than George Clooney and Julia Roberts, Ticket to Paradise is in cinemas now.
In this charmingly old-fashioned crowd-pleaser, Clooney and Roberts are bickering divorced parents who find themselves reluctantly heading to Bali to try and sabotage the wedding of their daughter (BookSmart’s Kaitlyn Dever). They think she should be starting her law career, but she’s fallen for a hunky seaweed farmer (Maxime Bouttier) and fancies a life in the idyllic tropics rather than the courtroom.
Can this constantly carping pair cooperate long enough to torpedo the nuptials, or will this time spent together rekindle an old flame? Well, it’d be a waste of a stellar central cast if it didn’t…
Roberts and Clooney have danced this waltz before. Fans will recall Clooney’s Danny Ocean was on the outs with Roberts’ Tess when he was released from prison in 2001’s Ocean’s 11, only to win her over with a measured combination of snappy patter and grand larceny. Ticket to Paradise is a little like that, but with pinpoint snark doing the heavy lifting.
Almost as charming as our bickering duo are the spectacular tropical locations. Director Ol Parker (Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again) filmed Ticket to Paradise during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with Queensland locations like the Whitsunday Islands subbing in for Bali. After a couple of years in various stages of lockdown, not to mention the prevalence of green screen in modern cinema, it’s genuinely revitalizing to spend some time in such a place, even if it is only vicariously.
