Hellbent on the reforms of nostalgia, Ticket to Paradise is the George Clooney and Julia Roberts-led piece nobody knew they didn’t want. Despite this intensely odd throwback to the days of star power mattering, a relatively tame Ol Parker-directed piece strikes through. Light and lovely, a piece built on hate and ending in love. Classic trajectories such as that are comfortable for audiences needing a break from the subversion of expectations. Sometimes, a modern equivalency can be just what is needed, and there is certainly an understanding of that throughout Ticket to Paradise. Uniquely positioned to deliver a complete throwback to those days of carefree, rich Americans, Parker creates a piece of plodding, palatable romantic comedy.
That is just what was needed, though. Ticket to Ride manages to coast along even further on its particularly slight and uncoordinated approach. Clooney and Roberts portray affluent individuals at odds with one another. Neither are relatable and come across as horribly cruel to not just one another and themselves, but to everyone around them. They are the typical socialites that fell out of favour with Hollywood and were instead explored by Succession or Schitt’s Creek. Openly mocking the wealthy is a much better place to sit in the culture wars, but Ticket to Paradise knows that to crack through with some nostalgic originality, it must dive deep into the underbelly of the beast and come out fighting. That is what Parker understands, as does his cast.
Ticket to Paradise should be no surprise, though. Parker did well to adapt to the sequel disciplines of Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, and with Ticket to Paradise he understands the need to double down on the cheesy mentalities of the drabbest and inarticulate of romantic comedies. In doing so, Parker creates a new experience from old forms. Clooney and Roberts are in top form, both are at their most recent best, a sincere highlight of both their filmographies in recent years. Finding love in mistakes is the key to Ticket to Paradise, and handling its message well is so crucial to that atmosphere. Regrets and mistakes at the core of family drama uncovered by Georgia (Roberts) and David (Clooney) are revisited when their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), appears ready to make the same mistake.
Obvious these story tropes may be and delicately simple the script can be at times, Ticket to Paradise is real fun that understands the genre. Parker is responsible and truly sophisticated in that notion, he knows what this particular audience has been wanting for a while, and what has been so truly lacking since he began to cement himself. Flashy moments rely not just on the legacy of Clooney and Roberts in this genre but on their growth following those high points. Defiantly attempting to claim that love can be rekindled through sheer hatred and fear of mistakes elsewhere, Ticket to Paradise lives in that eponymous paradise and never tries to come down or be something it isn’t. So defiantly placed in a genre that died long ago, Ticket to Paradise will reinvigorate the rom-com through sheer willpower alone, like it or not.
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