TICKET TO PARADISE

George Clooney and Julia Roberts do some remarkably heavy lifting but they cannot rescue this film's unconvincing central premise, the dirge of overforced situations and the utter lack of laughs.

Ticket to Paradise seems to ask the question if a sub-par romantic comedy can coast by on just the charms of its leading duo, George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Yet while the old Hollywood pros do some remarkably heavy lifting even they cannot rescue the unconvincing central premise, the dirge of overforced situations and the utter lack of laughs in this bland-beyond-reproach movie.

I'm sure Ticket to Paradise will sell plenty of stubs and I don't doubt that many an audience member will actually have a perfectly fine time at their local multiplex, but if this really is the film that coaxed Julia Roberts out of her romcom retirement — she had been waiting for the perfect script to come along, she said — in how bad a shape must the genre then be?

My guess is that everyone involved, from Roberts to Clooney and director Ol Parker — whose filmography suggests a penchant for exotic locations — just wanted to spend some time in lovely Bali. Which is nice for them, but couldn't they at least have put some effort into the film?

release: 2022

director: Ol Parker

starring: Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Kaitlyn Dever, Maxime Bouttier