Sometimes making a movie can be really simple. Put some A-listers in a gorgeous vacation getaway, and just let them make an hour and a half vacation romcom travelogue. That’s all Ticket to Paradise really has: George Clooney and Julia Roberts in Bali, Indonesia. And you know what? People just like all 3 of those things in their movies, duh! It’s so easy.
It’s the end of college for Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) and her bff Wren (Billie Lourd). Before their lives start, the pair take a vacation to Bali, where Lily falls in love with Gede (Maxime Butler), a gorgeous seaweed farmer. She and Gede are so smitten with one another, they decide to marry a month later, much to the alarm of Lily’s mom Georgia (Julia Roberts) and dad David (George Clooney), who also got married young and quickly, unamicably, divorced. Desperate to stop her daughter from rushing into a mistake David and Georgia reluctantly join forces to stop Lily and Gede’s wedding.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts are friends in real life, evident from the get go in Ticket to Paradise. There’s a general chill to the megastars as they go from icy exes to rekindled lovers. Apart, they each get stellar moments/monologues that captivate the screen: Clooney’s is at a hotel bar, Roberts fixing Lily’s hair, elevating the simple story with their acting talents. Together, they’re amazing at all stages of the plot: whether icily nailing each other with quick verbal daggers, beer pong and House of Paining it up on the dance floor, scheming to stop their daughter’s wedding, or opening up at a gorgeous sunrise. Each of those moments needs a different chemistry and style of acting, which Roberts and Clooney effortlessly provide the movie to the delight of audiences and clearly their castmates too, as the end credits outtakes indicate. There’s always the risk that the actors are having more fun than the audience, but Julia Roberts and George Clooney make sure everyone has a great time with Ticket to Paradise.
And when the audience is not admiring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, they’re enamored with the beauty of Bali (actually the Australian Whitsunday islands). Building the story around a wedding is like fish in a barrel, because writer/director Ol Parker can just focus on the mechanics of an Indonesian wedding, and just work his cast in. Did someone say fish out of water story? Watching Roberts and Clooney compete over seaweed farming practically writes itself. What’s nice about the 2022 version of this movie is that the Indonesians are one step ahead of the American big shots, using their naivete toward other cultures to make Clooney and Roberts the butt of the joke. And when the movie needs to be romantic, there’s always some majestic beach or cliffside not far away to help the audience swoon, with Clooney in a tux and Roberts in a gorgeous dress. I had never heard of the Whitsunday islands before Ticket to Paradise, but I did google map it to see how close it was to other great Australian tourist destinations after the movie.
And an hour and a half later, we out! Ticket to Paradise earns that title, and is just a delight from beginning to end. And for those wondering, it’s a $3500 flight from O’Hare airport to Hamilton Island, if you’re planning your next vacation getaway. Maybe just go to real Bali instead, that’s $1400 round trip.