Starpower radiating from George Clooney, Julia Roberts elevates otherwise ordinary rom-com 'Ticket to Paradise' | Movie review

Oct. 19—Sometimes, all you really need is a couple of movie stars.

Not movie stars but MOVIE STARS. You know?

"Ticket to Paradise" certainly has two of them, George Clooney and Julia Roberts, and the rom-com benefits greatly from their combined on-screen charm.

Floating into theaters this week, the island-set "Ticket to Paradise" is a gorgeous getaway, one with a couple of old pals. So enjoyable are Roberts and Clooney — who have shared the screen in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001), "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" (2002), "Ocean's Twelve" (2004) and "Money Monster" (2016) — that it mostly doesn't matter the movie's script is such a half-hearted work.

Mostly.

Director Ol Parker and his co-writer, Daniel Pipski, seemingly leave so much meat on the bone that — given the fun generated by the Hollywood heavyweights, as well as the talents of their young co-star Kaitlyn Dever — you can't help think about what "Ticket to Paradise" may have been had the stakes been higher and had the pulse been quickened in this romp.

The premise is this: Long-divorced couple David (Clooney) and Georgia (Roberts) decide they must work together to stop what they see as an impulsive, shortsighted decision by their daughter, Lily (Dever), to marry a man she has known for a short time. Essentially, she can't be allowed to make the mistake they made.

Understand that David and Georgia aren't in the business of working together. We are introduced to them in ratatat juxtaposed sequences in which each talks about how they met, broke up and then, after discovering Lily was on the way, married — divorcing five years later. As you'd guess, each is adept at blaming the other for what went wrong.

Both are set to attend Lily's college graduation, with Lily promising her dad they'll be seated on opposite ends of an auditorium the size of Rhode Island.

"That's the smallest state," he protests.

Soon, Lily is off to spend some time in Bali before concentrating her efforts on becoming a lawyer, Mom and Dad competing in a pride-off before she flies away with good friend Wren (Billie Lourd, "American Horror Story").

In Bali, while she and Wren find themselves in the ocean and abandoned by the vessel that brought them, they are rescued by "hot boat guy" Gede (Maxime Bouttier), with whom Lily exchanges love-at-first-sight eye locks.

A mere 37 days later, word reaches David and Georgia in Los Angeles that their daughter not only plans to marry the island native but that she will spend her life in the province of Indonesia with the young seaweed farmer. (For the record, Gede is very kind and offers philosophical musings about how nature, man and God must exist in harmony, so, you know, we get it.)

En route to Bali for the wedding, David and Georgia have the same idea: to offer nothing but support to Lily, gain her trust and then get her to see things more clearly — even if David sees his plan as somehow different after making a "Trojan Horse" reference.

Georgia and David bicker constantly, but, of course, we can see where this is all heading — even if the unexpected presence of Georgia's handsome and young commercial-pilot boyfriend, Paul (Lucas Bravo, "Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris") on their flight and later in Bali complicates matters.

Obviously, David and Georgia run the risk of alienating Lily if she figures out what her parents are doing, which offers some very mild tension, as does Paul's all-consuming love for the older Georgia. Mostly, though, this is a hangout with the five key characters all together or in various pairings.

And the heavenly scenery captured by cinematographer Ole Birkeland ("Judy") will have you ready to book a vacation to Bali — at least until you discover the movie wasn't shot there due to COVID-19-related issues but instead in the Whitsunday Islands, off the coast Queensland, Australia. (Ok, to Australia we go!)

The writer-director of 2018's "Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again," Parker is obviously very comfortable working in the island-romance rom-com subgenre. He says in the production notes for "Ticket to Paradise" that during the pandemic, he wanted to write something that would make people happy."

This movie should do that. It's a bouncy-and-buoyant escape to a warm-and-sunny place at a time when it's turning chilly in certain parts of the country we could name with a decidedly disapproving tone.

Nonetheless, it's a bummer that it sort of sleepwalks to the finish line instead of ratcheting up the conflict. And its final shot is silly even for a romantic comedy.

And yet we can't help enjoying every minute of Roberts and Clooney — our longtime screen pals Julia and George — bantering as combative-but-with-chemistry Geogia and David. They're pretty fun to be around even when they're acting as The Bickersons. If nothing else, "Ticket to Paradise" helps wash away whatever sour taste remaining from the highly disappointing "Money Monster."

Lastly, we can't forget about Dever, the "Booksmart" star who's been so impressive in the limited series "Unbelievable" and "Dopesick." She isn't asked to flex her acting muscles nearly as much here, but she gives a nice performance all the same.

You likely won't regret purchasing a ticket to "Paradise," even if it falls short of a utopian experience.

'Ticket to Paradise'

Where: Theaters.

When: Oct. 21.

Rated: PG-13 for some strong language and brief suggestive material.

Runtime: 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Stars (of four): 2.5.