Georgia (Julia Roberts, "Money Monster," Mirror Mirror,” Eat Pray Love") and David Cotton (George Clooney; “Hail, Caesar!," "The Monuments Men," “Ides of March”), have to team up when their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) a lawyer-to-be, is going to marry a seaweed farmer, Gede (Maxime Bouttier), thousands of miles away from home, after only knowing him for about a month.
Lily was on a last hurrah of a post-graduation vacation in Bali with her best friend (Billie Lourd) when she met and fell in love with Gede, effectively throwing her promising career at a prestigious law firm in Chicago and her life in the United States away. Georgia and David, jaded and divorced nearly two decades ago, are convinced that Lily’s making the biggest mistake of her life and are going to end up like them.
Georgia and David fly to Bali, pretend to be supportive of Lily’s decision, while working behind the scenes to break them apart. During the scheming, Georgia and David trade barbs and glares, trying to one up each other. At the same time, they are forced to spend time together and reminisce.
The estranged former couple realize their spark may not have been extinguished permanently, even after all these years. Georgia’s worshipping younger boyfriend (Lucas Bravo), who manages to tag along, adds a lot of comical shades. It’s no spoiler that Lily finds out about what her parents are really doing there and it isn’t pretty.
Sounds like a simple plot? It is. It’s super low stake, and guess what? It’s nice for a change. No suspense, no thriller, no action, no superheroes, and this is coming from someone who loves those genres. Being Indonesian-born and having been to Bali, the movie is naturally a bit more interesting to me since I speak and understand the Indonesian language when spoken by the characters.
Bouttier and Dever are fine as a young couple, although I wish more time could be spent on them so we could see more about their glossed over love story. The focus is on Roberts and Clooney though, and as predictable as the story goes, it makes sense from a movie perspective. Roberts' return to romcom is as natural as her mega-million watts smile. Clooney dials up the charm and it works like a charm. The A-list stars work the scenes; whether acidic, sarcastic, comedic or melancholic moments.
The beauty of “Ticket to Paradise” is spelled out in the title. Queensland, Australia, doubles as Bali when the Indonesian island was entirely locked down during the beginning of the pandemic, is beyond stunning.
From the post-opening scene in an oceanfront wood bungalow and the view zooms out, revealing the surrounding lush tropical jungle, colorful flowers, clear turquoise waters and golden sandy beaches will caress your eyes and soothe your soul. The local culture and traditions are enchanting and Lily feels warmly embraced by Gede’s large, extended families as one of their own.
There’s none of the real-life complications in Bali and that’s a perfect escape ticket. With some footage of Bali’s lovely panoramic vistas, most of the movie takes place in a luxury setting of a resort. Sometimes all we need is fantasy, a breather from day-to-day life where you can just exhale.
Charming and refreshing, “Ticket to Paradise” feels like being pleasantly transported into a postcard-perfect, paradise island vacation.
