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Ticket to Paradise it's a joy to watch Julia Roberts and George Clooney fall in love. It is an even greater joy to see them argue. Like the embittered exes in Ticket to Paradise who fly to Bali to stop their daughter's (Kaitlyn Dever) giddy wedding to a local seaweed farmer (Maxime Bouttier), the duo enjoy a full buffet of acrimonious conflict. They are heirs to that great tradition of silly humor. Think of Claudette Colbert hitchhiking with a flirtatious flick of her leg to provoke Clarke Gable in It Happened One Night, or Cary Grant struggling to keep his temper in the face of Katharine Hepburn's harebrained antics in Bringing Up Baby.
Ticket to Paradise, when Georgia (Roberts) and David (Clooney) are sitting next to each other at her daughter's graduation, they fight over armrests. When they sit together on the plane again, they engage in deadly conflict as they navigate a zone of harsh turbulence. And, when they discover that they have adjoining hotel rooms (at this point, the coincidences seem a bit fishy), they immediately get into an argument about David's thunderous snoring.
Ticket to Paradise recalls the tempestuous relationship that Roberts and Clooney shared as romantic leads in the Ocean's Eleven films. Though they've racked up a fair amount of screen time together, including in 2016's Money Monster, this is their first genuine rom-com as a couple. That it works is largely because its methods haven't changed. Aside from the joke where a dolphin heads for David's crotch (he later claims it's a leg injury, but the evidence speaks for itself), and beyond the middle-aged characters dancing drunkenly, there is very little here that is ridiculous or silly.
The charm of Roberts and Clooney's film, then, is the game of word poker played by two people who have always had an air of confidence. They're the designated adults in the room, so it really doesn't matter how fiercely they fight; you know they are sensible enough never to dig their claws in so deep that blood spurts out. Issues will always be resolved. And love will inevitably blossom.
Director Ol Parker's job is all about painting around the two of them, in bright yet soothing tones. He has cast the film in the same mold as The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018). The film casts Bali as a postcard-ready fantasy that will have eager romantics booking flights. But Parker also doesn't forget that it's a real place, inhabited by real people. The locals, including Gede de Bouttier and his father Wayan with his dry humor played by Agung Pindha, are the key to the story.
Parker's script, co-written with Daniel Pipski, is far more sentimental than humorous. It is rooted in parents' fear that their children are such perfect models of themselves that they are bound to repeat the same mistakes. David, at one point, confesses that he is more vulnerable in the happiest moments of his daughter's life: “that's when you get scared, because you don't want things to change”.
It is familiar emotional territory. He feels that Dever and Bouttier are somewhat neglected because of how bland and one-dimensional their romance is, even though it supposedly provides the film's central propulsion. Parker seems somewhat aware of this, considering he took the easy route and cast Billie Lourd as Dever's best friend from college. In essence, he plays the same scene-stealing bon vivant weirdo as in 2019's Booksmart: hysterically amused while always having a minimum of two cocktails on hand. Lucas Bravo from Emily in Paris also delivers the perfect and very goofy comedic reactions as Georgia's flirtatious French pilot boyfriend, Paul.
Combined, Lourd and Bravo provide a key antithesis to Roberts and Clooney's sophisticated gimmick. They are the right ingredients. Parker uses them in adequate amounts. It's (almost) enough to justify the fact that the movie ends with a freeze frame in the middle of a jump.
What would Ticket to paradise be without Julia Roberts or George Clooney? Without a doubt it would be one more movie of the many romantic comedies that we have seen throughout the history of cinema. Of those that we know how it begins, how it develops and how it ends. But it is also one of those stories in which we decide to submerge ourselves and surrender to the wave so that it can take us safely to the coast. That trip, in this case, we owe to Clooney and Roberts.
This film has just been released and is directed by Oliver “Ol” Parker, an English writer and director known more than anything for being the writer and director of Mamma Mia, here we go again!.
The plot of the film is very simple and never ceases to amaze. Julia plays Georgia who was married for five years to David (Clooney). From this union was born Lily (Katlin Denver who has just been nominated for an Emmy for the series Dopesick) who has just graduated as a lawyer and as a reward for her efforts, she travels with a friend to Bali. Hence paradise. But the relationship that is central to this film is the one between David and Georgia who get along like cats and dogs.
They both tried to make their marriage work but were unsuccessful. While David, an architect by profession, remained anchored in that bond (he has not shown any formal relationship since he separated from Georgia), she dedicated herself fully to her career in the world of art galleries and enjoying male companies. . But having a daughter together, the bond between them is sealed for life and they inevitably have to share some of their time together.
After attending Lily's graduation ceremony and leaving her at the airport for Bali with her friend Wren (Billie Lourd), David and Georgia breathe happily as they realize they will never see each other again. But an email arrives from distant lands in which Lily tells them that she is going to marry a young man she has just met in Bali, named Gede (Maxime Bouttier) who is a seaweed farmer.
Ticket to paradise takes the viewer to the earthly paradise that exists in Thailand (the film was actually filmed in Australia where Clooney moved with his family while Julia was alone and joined George's clan) who will be another protagonist of the plot which becomes short at times.
The chemistry that both achieve is undeniable and gives us the best scene when they dance with several glasses on top (called a beerpong contest) Georgia and David, which seems to be the moment in which we reflect on the power of the surnames of Clooney and Roberts in the film (While they make us smile). However, the young cast, with this new couple, does not achieve its goal. There is a lack of romanticism and that transmission for the viewer who at no time wants them to stay together.
The film becomes predictable and it is hard to get carried away at times by the only important presence that Julia and George provide. The opposition of the big cities versus the earthly paradise of Bali becomes another tension in the plot that has a clear winner in the white sand beaches and crystal clear waters. A film that will make you have a good time, without emotional moments achieved, but with a lot of chemistry in the leading couple.
George Clooney and Julia Roberts team up in a hilarious yet heartwarming romantic comedy directed by Ol Parker. The film, without being a musical, is very reminiscent, in its essence and tone, of "Mamma Mia" (Parker himself directed the sequel "Over and Over"). Here we leave you with our review of the movie Journey to Paradise.
Georgia (Julia Roberts) and David (George Clooney) were a couple with a little more than ephemeral romance from which, however, their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) was born. Despite their mutual contempt and resentment, the couple, played by the famous Clooney and Roberts, team up to prevent her daughter from making what they believe was the biggest mistake of her life: getting married.
The film Journey to Paradise smells from afar of one of those soporific proposals whose only claim is the exploitation of old glories. And the truth is that in its first bars it doesn't stop looking like it; the truth is that it is a quite interesting and funny comedy in which Daniel Pipski, helped in the writing of the script by Parker himself, reflects very naturally on various topics such as the projection of parents' frustrations on their children and the virtue of second chances.
In addition, making mistakes is naturalized, having hesitated before a difficult decision and recognizing that we were wrong; this is precisely the journey that one of the protagonists undertakes many years after his mistake and what makes him the most interesting character in the film. Better late than never.
Daniel Pipski and Ol Parker bet on a light-hearted, slightly histrionic comic goofy, very reminiscent of “Mamma Mia!” and they make the film Journey to Paradise a very propitious proposal for the summer. A silly movie very proud of being one, although it must be said that there are times when they go a little too far.
As the plot progresses we get to know the characters and their internal conflicts and Parker knows exactly when to get more serious and put the two top-notch actors at his disposal precisely for that, to act and do a little less the clown.
Although Julia Roberts is not bad at all and Kaitlyn Denver also offers a very convincing job playing her daughter, it should be noted that George Clooney is the one who shows the greatest talent for interpretation.
On the other hand, there are many secondary characters, especially among the natives of the archipelago in which most of the story takes place, who do not seem to have any greater purpose than to appear a little silly and who sometimes even give the feeling of being interpreted or directed with a certain laziness. There is a scene that seems to want to agree with Georgia and David pointing out that Lily is going to be surrounded by a little strange people.
The good performance in the acting field of the main actors helps to show how much truth and humanity there really is in this film, despite the carefreeness and jocularity that reigns in the first act and that does not get to go completely, which (almost) never becomes a problem.
This small change in tone is almost imperceptible thanks to a script in which many things happen and the conflict flows in a very natural way, which results in a light and easy-to-watch film, which leaves the feeling of telling a lot and well in Little time.
His friend and frequent co-star George Clooney had preceded Roberts on our video call, dialing from the Provence estate he shares with his wife, Amal. But the room he was sitting in was so overflowing with sunlight that Clooney could barely be made out through all the lens flare, and when Roberts joined us, he was trying unsuccessfully to close the patterned curtains on the windows.
Funny insults are the way Roberts and Clooney prefer to communicate: "It's our natural rhythm of happy noise," she said. Their rapport has sustained a big-screen partnership that spans several films, from 2001's Big Swindle to most recently, the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise (October 21 in the US), which casts them as exes who They dislike each other but reunite to prevent their daughter's (Kaitlyn Dever) surprise wedding to a seaweed farmer (Maxime Bouttier) whom she met on a graduation trip to Bali. When the girl's divorced parents come together, her old spark is rekindled; by the end of the movie, they have gone from being exes to being something like ex-exes.
When I spoke with Roberts and Clooney in late August, there was no light coming through Roberts's windows: it was only 6 a.m. m. in San Francisco, where Roberts and her husband, Danny Moder, live with their three teenage children.
Roberts had asked for an early start so she could see the kids off, who were leaving for school after the interview, noting that she was no stranger to getting up early: for a sunrise scene in Ticket to Paradise, she had to be in. the set at 3 a.m. m., the earliest she has had to appear on set in her career.
For more than a decade, the cinema billboard was filled with great superhero stories. On the other hand, the inevitable reaction was also the return of a more authorial, cryptic cinema, obsessed with the deconstruction of characters and complex themes.
In the end, the extremes became an atypical look at the seventh art, sometimes overwhelming and almost always disconcerting. Between the innocent extravagances of multi-million dollar franchises and small works of considerable symbolic content, the language of cinema seemed caught in a pulse in two different directions.
Perhaps, for this reason, “Ticket to Paradise”, by Ol Parker, surprises and moves. The only daughter of a successful divorced couple travels to Bali for a few days off before facing adult life. But what seemed like a brief pause in a carefully prepared plan for her future by her parents turns into a major change. One that Georgia (Julia Roberts) and David (George Clooney) are not going to accept for good.
Filled with equivocation, clumsy trapping and physical humor, this plot also explores a quirky idea of coming of age, cloaked in the deceptive gloss of big-budget comedy. Much more, when this sophisticated romantic story brings together an emblematic couple from the list of consecrated Hollywood. Clooney and Roberts, who have shared friendship, projects and a curious camaraderie for more than thirty years, decided to star in a simple story. But at the same time, transform that simplicity into a journey through small daily defeats and the notion of the passage of time in ordinary life.
Of course, the film's great attribute is the refreshing vitality of two stars enjoying a friendly experience in front of the cameras. Roberts and Clooney shine with good intentions and a contagious vigor that ends up giving the production a rare nostalgic splendor.
Although the story told is that of her daughter Lily de ella (Kaitlyn Dever) and her inexplicable decision to marry the charming Gege (Maxime Bouttier), the plot is insightful enough to explore other places. To narrate, in the background and discreetly, the troubles of the adult world, broken dreams and hopes turned into disappointment.
If there is something surprising about “Ticket to Paradise” it is her ability to make it clear, without too much fuss, that she lacks any kind of malice. As transparent as the sea of Bali in which Lily fell hopelessly in love with Gege, the film finds its best moments in how transcendental and how simple the idea of love can be. And he does not do it in the midst of great philosophical or cynical reflections.
Actually, the script written in four hands by Daniel Pipski and Ol Parker, is aware that its greatest strength is its reflection on identity. Time and time again, the film stops its friendly, humorous pace to allow the plot to tell a parallel story with a clean, intelligent freedom that strikes with its air of sophistication.
It is a feel good movie in its entirety and without a doubt the best of a scarce year in films that only seek to entertain their audience. “Ticket to Paradise” has the quality of simplicity and good intentions. Its premise is none other than the umpteenth reinvention of the great love stories of cinema from the golden age of Hollywood.
What amazes the ability of the actress, who owes her celebrity to a long collection of romantic comedies, to reinvent the usual formula of the girl who loves a boy into something new. That, despite the fact that it is well known that it is a role tailored to her and under that layer of simplicity.
Julia Roberts effortlessly transforms it into a radiant condition of calm beauty, into the image of a woman who built her life on firm foundations and must look over her shoulder to remember how she got there, against a crisp, symbolic sea of extraordinary beauty. Roberts manages to make her Georgia a loving mother, a woman who tries to understand her life and also, of course, the it girl of a film built to the greater glory of her charisma.
Clooney does the same, who with a humorous and paternal placidity leaves aside the aura of mysterious actor to give away, perhaps, the most sincere role of him in decades. The David he embodies dreamed of love, lost it and is now a sullen loner with a sarcastic humor. Clooney manages to transform that topical personality into that of a melancholic spirit with a broken heart. A kind and mischievous father, capable of planning the best way to sabotage his daughter's wedding, and at the same time painfully remembering the last weeks of his failed marriage.
Admired for their talent and natural beauty, their charisma, their elegance on the red carpet and their sense of humor, Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway have much in common. Both were the queens of romantic comedies, although they did not have to share the throne thanks to the generation that separates them.
The eternal sweetheart of America occupied it during the 90s, while Hathaway took over it from the 2000s. They have also tried their luck with other records throughout her career. In fact, his most critically acclaimed roles have nothing to do with comedy or romance. Julia Roberts earned her first and only Oscar for her work in Erin Brockovich, a film based on true events about the life of the activist of the same name. Anne Hathaway took home the statuette for her role in the dramatic musical Les Miserables.
However, both Julia Roberts and Anne Hathaway will always be remembered for the romantic comedies they have starred in, a genre that has also given them a lot of joy, and that undoubtedly took them to the top of Hollywood: My best friend's wedding , Surprise Princess, Notting Hill. What were your best movies? Why did Julia Roberts decide to change her registry? Do you have any project in sight?.
She earned the title of America's sweetheart, as everyone saw her as the ideal woman. Natural, sweet, charismatic, with a charming smile, that's how we met Julia Roberts. She entered the film industry in style, with one of the romantic comedies that ended up becoming a classic: Pretty Woman (1990). More than thirty years after its premiere, it continues to be one of the public's favorite films and, in large part, thanks to the actress, who was only 23 years old at the time. This work earned her her first nomination at the Oscar Awards.
Without a doubt, another of her most remembered films is My Best Friend's Wedding (1997), where she shared the screen with Cameron Diaz, Dermot Mulroney and Rupert Everett. In it she plays Julianne Potter, a food critic who meets an old friend with whom she has always been in love. The problem is that she is getting married. However, she does not give up and tries to avoid the wedding at all costs.
