The two Hollywood stars arrive in theatres on 6 October with an exotic, surprising and very romantic film that has the flavour of nostalgia (and hits the mark).
A comeback in style: Julia Roberts, queen of romantic comedies, has a reunion with George Clooney while joking about replacing him with a younger model (specifically Lucas Bravo, heartthrob from the Netflix series Emily in Paris).
The two super stars are also very close friends in life, which is why poking at each other for work – and in Bali to boot – seems so thrilling. It happens by the demands of the script in the romantic comedy Ticket to Paradise, in cinemas from 6 October, which sees them grappling with a marriage that has long since broken down.
Their characters, David and Georgia, have been married for five years but after the divorce they wage a cold war using the affection of their only daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), as territory to conquer. The girl, a recent college graduate, treats herself to a holiday as a present for her coveted achievement and flies with best friend Wren (Billie Lourd, daughter of the late Carrie Fisher, Princess Leia from Star Wars) to this earthly paradise. Here she is struck by the proverbial thunderbolt for a local young man, Gede (Maxime Bouttier) and, instead of returning to the metropolis and starting a high-level career, decides within a couple of months to get married.
The news is sufficiently alarming to bring his parents, otherwise sworn enemies, together. So the bride-to-be's father and mother join her for the ceremony, when in fact they have every intention of sabotaging it. And they try to do so with all their might and in a daring and surreal way, in perfect 1990s comedy style.
On screen, the Clooney–Roberts duo sparkle and always manage to outdo themselves in the most grotesque of exotic adventures. You can tell it is a partnership etched in the Hollywood firmament and that these two really have a good time: they have incredible comic rhythms that raise the level of the gags.
At a certain point you don't know if they are funnier as lovers or rivals, especially when the French pilot Georgia is dating and who couldn't look more like an adorable puppy looking for a cuddle.
Anything and everything happens, and as this triangle manifests itself in all its madness, Lily really comes into her own.
The story, written and directed by Ol Parker, showcases two very different generations in a cocktail of feelings that are easy to identify with, from the regrets of youth to the annoyance of omnipresent exes. And it is an absolute delight.