TICKET TO PARADISE proves the power of movie stars

as someone who was practically raised by george clooney and julia roberts since their films were constantly airing on tv, i was very excited to watch TICKET TO PARADISE, a romantic comedy which was gonna bring them on screen together again. i had a feeling i was gonna enjoy the film, but i ended up absolutely loving it. i couldn’t stop laughing and i left the cinema walking on air. reader, it’s a ticket to paradise indeed (sorry).

lily (kaitlyn dever) has just graduated from law school and is set to start her career after one last vacation w her best friend, wren (billie lourd), to bali. lily isn’t sure she wants to work as a lawyer, but now that she’s already done w school, she can’t bare to disappoint her parents, david (clooney) and georgia (roberts), two highly successful people who can only agree one thing: their daughter.

david and georgia hate each other. they hate each other so much, georgia has his mail blocked and they embarrass lily at her graduation by engaging in a competition of who can profess their love for her more. even their accounts of their happy years differ; they can’t agree on anything other than their daughter.

so when lily announces them a month after graduating that she’s gonna marry a guy she has just met, david and georgia set out to prevent her from making the same mistake they made twenty-five years earlier. they want to sabotage her relationship w her fiance, gede (maxime bouttier), no matter what it takes.

no spoilers here, but of course the wedding preparation is filled w hijinks and has a happy ending; this is a studio romantic comedy starring two of our most charming actors and directed by a man who managed to make a sequel better than the original (ol parker, we thank you for MAMMA MIA! HERE WE GO AGAIN). the film is rather basic and predictable, but it works better than other recent romcoms because of its leads.

clooney and roberts are stunning in this. their charm makes even the lesser jokes work (a bit about a dolphin would have made me roll my eyes, but here it’s a highlight). their chemistry is electric; i could not take my eyes off the screen when they were on it. they are so damn good together, it’s kinda unfair to everybody else in the film and hollywood, if i’m being honest. the supporting cast is fine, but their energies don’t even come close to clooney and roberts. it might be a bit unfair to compare two legends w history to a bunch of younger actors and who haven’t worked together before, but that’s mostly the problem of the film.

the characters don’t have much depth and the script is very by the numbers. even if you know everything will be fine in the end, there’s very little emotion to get you to care about the characters. maybe it’s because i never got dever, but i didn’t care for lily or her quarter-life crisis. wren and gede, as good as lourd and bouttier are, are also rather forgettable. bravo has some funny moments, but nothing to stand out. they’re not bad, but i didn’t walk out as a fan of theirs.

clooney and roberts, on the other hand, they are incredible. with any other actors, i wouldn’t have been as charmed as i was. maybe i am biased since they’re the reason why i love cinema and their films (especially their collabs) mean the world to me, but they really are our last two great movie stars. i was invested until the end because of them. when they would laugh, i would laugh; during any emotional moments, i’d get teary-eyed; when they would throw insults at each other, i would feel like a kid at christmas. they work so well with each other, they can make any material come to life. you could make them read the phone book and i would love it.

TICKET TO PARADISE is a good movie (i rec it wholeheartedly!), but it’s number one proof that movie stars are a dying breed. i couldn’t think of two other actors who could make this one of the best romcoms of the genre. the charm and chemistry these two have have always been two rare things, but it’s practically inexistent anymore. they’re just as exciting to watch as they were twenty-one years ago when they starred in OCEAN’S ELEVEN (a film i could practically get a degree on) and in every other collaboration they’ve had since then (OCEAN’S TWELVE, a sequel which deserves better than its reputation as a disaster — who cares if it’s just movie stars on vacation, that’s why it works — , and MONEY MONSTER, a movie i shall defend forever). at this point, i can only ask for a collaboration every few years and a reunion with steven soderbergh, a man who understands movie stars better than any director.

(i am so gonna watch this enough times on cable in one year that i will be able to quote by heart. it’s happened before w their other collabs and it will happen again w this one, trust.)

grade: 4.5/5

TICKET TO PARADISE can be seen in cinemas.