George Clooney goes into his goofy comedy routine in this feelmoderate romcom from director and co-writer Ol Parker: an intergenerational tale of Crazy Rich Americans going to a wedding. Clooney brings some serious goof: he does his goofy face and the goof is onstream more or less from the outset. This may be to the unease of those who like him in a more sophisticated low-key style, such as in Ocean’s Eleven or Up in the Air, or those who look to the Coens to rein in and shape his broader comedy tendencies, as in O Brother, Where Art Thou? or Intolerable Cruelty.
Clooney plays David, a prosperous man in middle age who is divorced from high-flying art dealer Georgia; this is Julia Roberts. They were college sweethearts who got married way too early and split unhappily after the birth of their only child. But now, despite their sizzling mutual irritation, they must come together to attend the college graduation of their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), who has learned to suffer her parents’ undignified outbursts and immature tantrums with each other. Lily then heads off for a much-deserved holiday in Bali with her friend Wren (Billie Lourd), and there meets and falls in love with local seaweed farmer Gede (Maxime Bouttier). David and Georgia are horrified to receive the wedding invitation and agree on a cessation of hostilities to head out there, on a secret mission to sabotage this hasty marriage and save Lily from the same mistake they made.
