For more than 20 years, George Clooney and Julia Roberts have been making affable, generally palatable movie magic together. They make sense together, in the grand old Hollywood tradition of romantic comedies in which a striking, spitfire leading lady is paired with a slightly older but still wildly roguish leading man. The pair banter and quip, spit and spar, but as the credits near they inevitably share a closedmouthed kiss. The two lovers try so hard to be apart, but in the end, they just can’t ignore chemistry.
That, in short, is pretty much the plot of Ticket to Paradise, Clooney and Roberts’s latest romantic team up. There are twists and turns of course—the divorced pair’s once straitlaced daughter (Kaitlyn Dever) has decided to up and move to Bali and marry a guy she’s known for 37 days, Roberts’s character has a too-nice pilot boyfriend (Lucas Bravo), and there’s an incident with a dolphin, to name a few—but ultimately much of Ticket’s run time is spent waiting for the other romantic shoe to drop for the elder couple. To say whether it does or not would be a spoiler, but Ticket To Paradise is a traditional rom-com in every sense of the word, so it’s pretty easy to guess.
Much like its Balinese setting, Ticket To Paradise is perfectly pleasant. The entire cast is fun if somewhat comedically underutilized, and you learn a surprising amount about Indonesian wedding culture, which is a nice bonus. Much like a vacation, though, Ticket To Paradise’s impact is fleeting. It’s a fine enough movie to fritter away a couple hours with, but don’t expect it to stick around in your consciousness for too long. PG-13, 104 min.