November 22 2024
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Ticket to Paradise
Clooney and Roberts take on the rom-com
Israa Radaydeh, Jordan News
last updated:
Sep 22,2022
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AMMAN — Ticket to Paradise,
a retro-engineered romantic comedy (rom-com) curated for softies everywhere,
stars Julia Roberts as Georgia and George Clooney as David, a divorced couple
desperately trying to save their daughter from a fate like their own.اضافة اعلان
The movie is filled
with arguments, romance, and lessons — ones only a rom-com can pull off. And
while that may sound dismissive (and kind of cliché), make no mistake: it is a
fun and heartwarming watch.
The movie launches
viewers into the midst of a fight between Georgia and David, both expressing
how much they hate each other.
As David is playing squash, Georgia sips a
cocktail, and they both explain how their marriage was the worst time of their
lives.
But, now that they
are separated, they are happier than ever.
Once Georgia and
David learn that their daughter has a whirlwind romance in Bali that is moving
too fast for their own comfort, they, together, decide that she needs to be
stopped from making the same bad decision they made: getting married.
Reluctantly agreeing
to work together, the ex-couple travel overseas, and the bickering travels with
them. Even in moments of supposed celebration — like their daughter Lily’s
(Kaitlyn Dever) graduation — they fight. Softer moments of forced tenderness
are trickled throughout the movie in a series of — a little suspicious —
incidents, like going through turbulence strong enough to force them to grip
each other hands for dear life and being booked next to each other at the
hotel.
In one notable scene,
David and Georgia get drunk and unruly while playing beer pong in a bar in
Bali. And much to Lily’s horror, they start dancing to retro classics like Rock
This Party (Everybody Dance Now).
While the film casts
Bali as a postcard-ready fantasy that will entice avid romantics to book
flights, it also does not forget that it is a real place, with real people
living there. The locals — including Maxime Bouttier as Gede (Lily’s lover) and
his dry-humored father Agung Pindha as Wayan — are key to the story, and so are
the other actors.
Clooney and Roberts,
both aging beautifully, portrayed an assured charisma and allowed themselves to
look silly in quite an adorable manner. As this is their fourth film together
film, seeing them together was reminiscent of the tumultuous relationship their
characters shared as the romantic leads in the Ocean’s Eleven movies.
Although they have
racked up quite a bit of screen time together, including 2016’s Money Monster,
it is their first proper rom-com. And it succeeded largely because their
methods have not changed.
Roberts and Clooney’s
draw is secured during a scene in which they play a game of poker. Even in a
room full of adults, they stand out. And it is easy to see that no matter how
fiercely they fight, they will never sink their claws deep enough to make the
other bleed. Things will always settle, and love, inevitably, will bloom.
Seeing Roberts and
Clooney fall in love was a delight. It was an even greater delight to see them
bickering.
Director Ol Parker’s job was simply to
paint around Roberts and Clooney using light and soothing tones, and he
succeeded. The film was cast in the same mold as The Best Exotic Hotel Marigold
(2011) and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! (2018).