When it comes to Hollywood romantic comedies, the winning formula was probably laid out in the golden age of Hollywood and not much has changed in these almost hundred years. Then again, those fairy-tale romantic stories regularly do well, and “Ticket to Paradise” also had a more than solid run, earning almost 170 million dollars on a budget of 60, most of which certainly went to the fees of the two main stars, Julia Roberts and George Clooney. Hiring a star couple is usually one of the main prerequisites for this formula to work, and “Ticket to Paradise” paired Roberts and Clooney for the fifth time after the two Ocean’s sequels, “Confessions of the Dangerous Mind” and “Money Makers.”
Another important element of the romantic comedy formula is some obstacle in realizing the romance between the main protagonists, and the main obstacle in the relationship between Georgia and David is that they cannot stand each other. When they were young, they were in a passionate relationship, they got married, had a daughter, and a few years later they broke up. Now they can’t see each other and the only thing that connects them and literally forces them to see each other only occasionally is their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever). But Lily is already grown up, she just finished law school, and before starting work in a law office, she went on a trip with her best friend to Bali. In that heavenly corner of the world, the young Lily will be hit by Cupid’s arrow and will fall head over heels in love with the local algae grower, Gede.
Love will be on the side, and they will immediately decide to get married. Therefore, both Georgia and David will head to Bali with the common thought of getting their daughter to respond to that sudden decision and sabotage that hasty marriage in every possible way. And as it happens, the time spent in that earthly paradise will awaken some old sparks among the former lovers, and everything will develop there just as it could have been assumed even before the beginning of the film. It is a typical romantic comedy that offers a completely escapist, fairy-tale depiction of life, which is usually inevitable for the success of such films. Something that most certainly will not and cannot happen in real life will happen here, and all this is spiced up by the main actors in a solid mood and spiced up by the really wonderful, heavenly environment of that incredible Indonesian island.