Ticket to Paradise

There was a time when Georgia ( Julia Roberts ) and David ( George Clooney ) were madly in love. But now they love to hate each other more than anything else. Even many years after the divorce, there is a constant war between them. Because of this, if they could, they would no longer have any contact at all. But then there’s their daughter Lily ( Kaitlyn Dever ) who they would do anything for. Even tolerated. A little at least. When she tells them that she is the seaweed farmer Gede ( Maxime Bouttier) who wants to get married in Bali, they even agree: they have to prevent that at all costs. And so they travel together to the paradise island to sabotage the wedding there. They not only have to make sure that Lily doesn’t notice anything about their manipulations. They also have to deal with their own feelings…

Actually, one would think that Ticket to Paradise is one of the really big titles this late summer. Not only that, with George Clooney and Julia Roberts, two absolute Hollywood heavyweights appear in it, they have already shot several films together – including Ocean’s Eleven and Money Monster. You can even play a pair. Almost at least. In the beginning, their characters are still enemies each other. But according to the laws of romantic comedy, that won’t be the case in the end. So everything that has proven itself that many films have sold successfully before should also work with this variant. And yet the hype surrounding the film is fairly limited. In addition, he comes off quite moderately in the reviews, the reactions vary between slating and disinterest.

The film Ticket to Paradise even has a lot to offer. The showpieces are, of course, Roberts and Clooney. The focus is on the daughter’s wedding. But that is regularly pushed to the sidelines, both in terms of plot and character design. In fact, Lily and Gede are so bland that you lose interest in them after just a few minutes. Two secondary characters are much more entertaining. Both Lily’s best friend Wren ( Billie Lourd ) and Georgia’s much younger lover Paul ( Lucas Bravo) have much more concise appearances. In their exaggeration, they are also without significant nuances and shades. At least they’re always entertaining, unlike the main couple, who have to make do with good looks.

• Ticket to Paradise