Pretty sure it took me at least two whole weeks in between watching this movie and actually reviewing it. You know when you see a film and in the grand scheme of the entire history of cinema it all just feels so insignificant? That was this movie for me. Hence why it took me so long to finally put pen to paper.
To summarise, Ticket to Paradise is a standard romantic comedy. Starring two of the biggest movie stars working today (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) playing a divorced couple, they re-unite when their daughter flees to Bali and suddenly gets engaged. Banding together to fly out there and stop her, the pair of them find themselves reconnecting in ways they had never anticipated… after a few initial bumps in the road, of course.
What I’m sayin is, I genuinely forgot I’d even watched this… then I went to Bulgaria on a summer break so who knows what date I really watched it? I want to say somewhere around June 11th? Tellingly, this movie was very forgettable.
People rant and rave about there being no “good old-fashioned rom-coms” anymore, it’s true. And I truly feel that sentiment. However, whilst flinging Hollywood heavy hitters Roberts and Clooney together in an attempt to create something new seems like a good idea, even those two aren’t miracle workers. These may be all new characters free from any franchise or film series, but it lacks all originality and ends up being nothing but predictable.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s lovely to spend some time with the gorgeous Indonesian scenery for 104 minutes. It’s great to see Roberts having a great time and forever rising star Kaitlyn Dever earn the big bucks doing something pretty low maintenance. There are one or two truly funny moments (not that I can remember what they were). Other than that? Ticket to Paradise doesn’t have too much going for it.
Full of obvious tropes, it must be said that creating a romantic comedy that actually surprises isn’t an easy task. However, this one just seems lazy. It’s clear from the first minute how it’s all going to play out; would it be too much to ask for there to at least be one exciting twist along the way?! You won’t find that here, that’s for sure.
What it does do well is wrap it all up quickly. It’s not super long – although it feels longer – so you won’t feel too hard done by once it’s over. Overall though, you can sleep well at night knowing you’ve missed this one. Now, I’m off to go and forget it ever existed.
Ticket to Paradise is currently available to stream on Sky Cinema and Now TV in the UK.
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