Let's face it — it's been a rough two-and-a-half years, and we might just need a rom-com in which George Clooney and Julia Roberts go to a gorgeous tropical location and wear cutely rumpled linen outfits and spend most of the movie insulting each other in such a way that you know they're going to end up together. No, I did not just spoil the plot of Ol Parker's "Ticket to Paradise," which does not really have a plot to spoil — at least not one that you haven't seen countless times before. This is one of those movies that is exactly what you think it is going to be; no better, but definitely no worse.
Everything about "Ticket to Paradise" that does not involve Clooney and Roberts is instantly forgettable (except perhaps Billie Lourd's slyly funny turn in the obligatory best friend role, though the movie too often forgets she exists); everything involving Clooney and Roberts is a kick. The two play long-divorced couple David and Georgia Cotton, whose only child Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) calls them from her post-law-school-graduation Bali vacation to announce she's throwing aside her career plans and getting married to a Hot Seaweed Farmer (Maxime Bouttier). (Let's just call him HSF from now on, as he — and any other character not played by Clooney or Roberts — is nice and doesn't matter.) David and Georgia instantly freak out, pack up their aforementioned linen and hop on a plane, intent on stopping the nuptials; sort of like "My Best Friend's Wedding" with a generation gap.
As the movie progresses, more is revealed about how David and Georgia went from besotted young lovers to bitter divorcees long ago, but we don't really need the backstory; it's already there, in the ease with which Clooney and Roberts interact. I found myself wondering if these were the same characters from "Ocean's 11," some 20 years later, with a renamed Danny Ocean having left his life of crime behind but not his gift for sexy banter. (Roberts' character Tess managed an art gallery in that film; in this, she owns one — coincidence? Maybe; people in rom-coms are always working in art galleries, way more so than in life.)
But if the lines between Danny/Tess, David/Georgia and indeed George/Julia are blurred — it's hard to say where one pair leaves off and another begins — it's definitely fun to watch Clooney and Roberts unleash their arsenal of sly grins, uproarious laughter, bad dancing, side-eying and effortless repartee, even when slinging seaweed or playing drunken beer pong. Never mind Lily and the HSF, who deserve their personality-free life together; "Ticket to Paradise" is all about the welcome sight of a pair of movie stars who know exactly what to do with their wattage.
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'TICKET TO PARADISE'
2.5 stars (out of 4)
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for some strong language and brief suggestive material)
Running time: 1:44
How to watch: In theaters Friday
