By Jonah Naplan

October 22, 2022

One of the many surprising elements of “Ticket to Paradise” that acted as a nice breath of fresh air was actually the end credits that showed the film’s blooper reel. Modern-day rom-coms don’t do that kind of thing anymore. That was more a thing of the early 2000’s. Pixar even used to make parody blooper reels in the end credits for their movies. But in 2022? In a film starring the likes of George Clooney and Julia Roberts? In a more adult-oriented movie competing with “Black Adam” and “Halloween Ends” at the box office this weekend? Well that’s certainly unique.

“Ticket to Paradise,” a delightful little movie with even more delightful actors, closely follows the ropes and tropes provided by The Romantic Comedy Movie Handbook. It’s predictable through and through, (probably also because the trailers definitely showed way too much) but that’s not a bad thing by any means. And either way, what “Ticket to Paradise” brings to the table in terms of mismatched couple misadventures is something that attracts more audiences than even some major blockbusters do. But “Ticket to Paradise” will probably do well not because it’s revolutionary (the opposite is true) but because of the reunition between George Clooney and Julia Roberts, a welcome pop culture event reflecting upon the oldie romantic comedies of yore, after the successes of all three “Ocean’s” movies, remaining some of the best heist films out there.

In “Ticket to Paradise,” George Clooney and Julia Roberts play David and Georgia Cotton, a divorced couple of a recently graduated college student named Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), who’s studying to be a lawyer. Lily and her best friend Wren (Billie Lourd) take a trip to Bali, Indonesia, where Lily unexpectedly falls in love with a seaweed farmer named Gede (Maxime Bouttier), and only thirty-seven days later, the two announce that they’re getting married. So David and Georgia book their plane tickets to Bali and end up sitting next to each other on the plane. Convenient, I kid you not.

David and Georgia absolutely despise one another, as we learn in an opening montage, and continue to learn as they banter back and forth constantly while on the plane and when they first arrive in Bali. When asked, David says that the time he was married to Georgia was the “worst nineteen years of his life,” even though he was actually only married for five. “I’m counting the recovery,” he says. We learn of how unhealthy and toxic their relationship was, and it seems like they hate each other to such an extreme degree that “Ticket to Paradise” could have easily worked as a sort of off-beat drama. A parody of “Marriage Story,” maybe. But the film takes this painfully true to form scenario and turns it comedic, with snappy, almost playful dialogue that conveys just how much fun the two leads are having with each other on-screen. Obviously, Clooney and Roberts are friends in real life, and that’s evident here, with a screenplay that works hard to make the audience laugh, and succeeds more often than it doesn’t.

David and Georgia are astonished by Bali’s amazing beauty and understand that Gede is a very nice man that loves their daughter very much, but they believe that Lily is making the same mistake that they did 25 years ago—throwing your life away for a love interest you just met. Sure, there’s sparks flying. But is it worth it? So the ex couple decides to make it their duty, as all indubitably great parents do, to end the wedding plans here and now, starting first with stealing the young couple’s wedding ring. It’s an unbelievably selfish decision that at first really puts a bad taste in your mouth, and doesn’t in any way give us a good reason as to why we should root for any of these characters.

“But wait, wait, wait!” the film calls out. “Ticket to Paradise” precedes to redeem itself through several entertaining scenarios, including but not limited to, miscommunications with a flamboyant French boyfriend, seaweed gathering competitions, extensive games of beer pong, and bites from both dolphins and venomous snakes. A lot of it reminded me of the chaos that was “The Lost City,” from earlier this year. Both had a set of two mismatched characters stuck in a unlikely scenario with each other, that learn to connect over the course of the journey, and both appeal to the same type of audience, that will have viewers coming and going from the theater each and every weekend.

Watching the film, I couldn’t help but notice the amount of older couples with glasses of wine in their respective cup holders attending my screening. And the majority of them were probably subjects of that famous actor pull that radiates from the two leads. It’s kinda like a “The Music Man” scenario. A lot of people go to see that show on Broadway specifically for Hugh Jackman, without knowing anything about the songs or the show itself. That’s fine, and I can likewise understand the common excitement that a movie such as “Ticket to Paradise” brings. But the film is able to move past stardom, and tell a compelling and frequently funny story. I bought my ticket, and I don’t regret it.

Now playing in theaters.