An unintentionally hilarious moment occurs in the new romantic comedy "Ticket to Paradise" when George Clooney's character says, after his grown daughter decides to stay in Bali, he can see "why she likes it here." It's groan-worthy because the film hasn't developed much of the daughter's character, or that of Bali beyond a posh resort viewed through the lens of privilege.
But we can see why we like it here: as long as here is anywhere with Clooney and co-star Julia Roberts.
What is it about those two? The New York Times describes the actors as the "Tracy-Hepburn of our time." It's more than that old Hollywood glamor, though. The stars are of similar stature, orbiting the same sun. We love them together and there's a reason for it: by supporting each other, they reflect the realistically attainable relationship we want. For a rom-com to work these days, the couple needs to be a team. We need Clooney and Roberts' kind of gender equality.
More than 30 years ago, Newsweek ran a cover story with the headline "The Marriage Crunch." With alarmist prose and sketchy statistics, the magazine declared that a white, college-educated woman who is 40 was "more likely to be killed by a terrorist" than to get married. The magazine eventually retracted the story, but the sentiment got out, bleeding into romantic comedies for years to come.
Take for example "Sleepless in Seattle," where Meg Ryan's Annie is reminded of the grim percentage. Leave it to Rosie O'Donnell's character to reassure Annie that it isn't true (I'm team Carrie, team Vi and team whoever O'Donnell plays, always). And it isn't true, that older women can't find love. Nobody gave rom-coms that memo, though, for a long time.
But things are better now. Or, at the very least, there's an effort being made to make them better. In the 2000s, the margins narrowed between the ages of romantic leads in top-grossing rom-coms. John Corbett's two years older than Nia Vardalos in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which earned $374 million. Johnny Depp had only a year on Juliette Binoche in the romantic blockbuster "Chocolat." "Ticket to Paradise" features 61 year-old Clooney and 55 year-old Roberts, and it's already passed the $100 million international box office mark.
They have more than chemistry. They have equality.
In the film, Clooney and Roberts play the long-divorced parents of Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) who, confusingly, has a job in a top law firm directly after college (no law school?). But she's prepared to give it all up for a guy she just met in the place she's vacationing, Bali. Clooney and Roberts fly to the island (first class, of course) to try and stop the quickie wedding.
"Ticket to Paradise" has garnered mixed reviews, for its colonialism as well as its plot holes. RogerEbert.com calls it "frustratingly unexceptional." Perhaps one of the more infuriating aspects is not enough screen time between Roberts and Clooney. Each of their shared scenes sparkle with barbs, what The New York Times calls a "distinctive mixture of stifled sexual attraction and surface exasperation."
They have more than chemistry. They have equality. In the film, they both work vague rich people jobs: Clooney's David is an architect, Roberts' Georgia an art dealer. Both are nods to the "Ocean's Eleven," franchise where the pair famously play a couple (her character runs an art gallery and in "Ocean's Thirteen," a hard-hatted Clooney tours a casino construction site). It's also a sly acknowledgement that the "Oceans" roles are the ones they're best known for together, though they have played opposite each other in several other films. In "Ticket to Paradise," their characters' jobs are each well-paying, if slightly nebulous (and aspirational for George Costanza).
The secret to that Clooney/Roberts charm? It's respect.
Much-needed queer romantic comedies like "Bros," "Happiest Season," "Fire Island" and "Single All the Way" can teach heteronormative ones a thing or two about being equals in life and love. In "Fire Island," Noah working as a nurse is an aspect that Will, a lawyer, loves about him: Noah's commitment to helping people, to doing his job. In "Ticket to Paradise," Georgia being forced to choose marriage and motherhood over her career early on is a key part in why the older couple didn't work out the first time. That's a lesson that the younger, less engaging couple in the movie has yet to learn, as Lily gives up her job and life for love.
Romantic comedies must also have a foil, and the new significant other who tries to come between Georgia and David in "Ticket to Paradise"? It's a younger man Georgia's been half-heartedly dating. David, it's noted, has had "age-appropriate relationships." This is not a revelation. Hollywood, like the rest of the world, has been slowly creeping toward the idea that women can date younger men, or even more shockingly, that a man can love an older woman. But the balance of power is important here. David hasn't "traded" Georgia in for a "younger model." Neither one is dismissive or intimidated by the other's looks, career or life, including their love life. And that's true offscreen too. The secret to that Clooney/Roberts charm? It's respect.
In a gag reel that plays during the credits (many of the bloopers are funnier than the actual film), Roberts jokes when another actor spills on Clooney: "It's only George Clooney." She's unimpressed. But the sparkle in both their eyes indicates they actually are impressed with each other, very much indeed. And even more than a luxury Bali vacation, that kind of mutual admiration in a relationship? It's aspirational.
