“Ticket To Paradise” is the family-friendly movie we need in the midst of Spooktober
While the rest of the world plans to dress as witches, bitches and fairies, or snuggle in with their typical horror movies, I had the opportunity to watch Ticket To Paradise as we welcomed Spooktober. Starring George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever and Maxime Bouttier, it’s the movie to break up all the ghoulish festivities.
In the film, divorced David (Clooney) and Georgia (Roberts) have a golden child, Lily (Dever). Lily has just graduated law school and is on track to working at one of the biggest firms in Chicago—but she makes a pit stop in Bali to let off some steam first.
But as fate would give it, she meets Gede (Bouttier) and falls in love. When she tells her always-arguing parents that she plans to wed and stay in Bali, David and Georgia make a pact to stop their daughter from making the biggest mistake of her life. Cue the adorable moments.
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Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way: Ticket To Paradise is full of scenic moments. I haven’t been to the beach in a while, and that mixture of sea, sand and sky were a beautiful and frustrating reminder of what I’ve been missing. And because George Clooney and Julia Roberts have tried-and-tested onscreen chemistry, you know you’re in for some laughs and kilig moments.
But with those spectacular scenes and chemistry means other things are sacrificed. Lily and Gede’s own love story isn’t exactly something you root for. You know they’re in love and they stare at each other like they’re in love, but you never get those montage moments that really give their relationship that much-needed footing. And we spend 90% of the film in Bali, but David and Georgia keep mentioning this lake house they built in the highs of their relationship that we never get a glimpse of. (A shame because it would have nicely tied everything together.)
But on to the better stuff: As a whole, Ticket To Paradise is such a breath of fresh air. With the onslaught of bad news and scary movies, series and people, this film from director Ol Parker is exactly what we need to break up the dreariness of every day. Take your parents, take your siblings, take your friends; bring them all to the theater for (almost) two hours of fun.
Ticket To Paradise has comedy, just a little bit of drama, and all the cringe-y moments you’d expect from a romcom of this caliber. But if you need more convincing, just picture this: George Clooney in yoga pants, Julia Roberts making out with Lucas Bravo (Emily In Paris) and the two of them having a seaweed pulling competition.
From Universal Pictures International, “Ticket To Paradise” premieres in local theaters on October 5 (Wednesday).
Art Matthew Ian Fetalver
