Book a ‘Ticket to Paradise’ and Get Ready for Your Anti-Romantic Frown to Be Turned Upside-Down

October 19, 2022

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , 1 Comment

Tickets, please. (CREDIT: Vince Valitutti/Universal Studios)

Starring: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Maxime Bouttier, Lucas Bravo

Director: Ol Parker

Running Time: 104 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Beachy Language, Including the Limit of One F-Bomb

Release Date: October 21, 2022 (Theaters)

What’s It About?: Are David and Georgia Cotton (George Clooney and Julia Roberts) the most acrimoniously divorced couple in history? The opening sequence of Ticket to Paradise sure leads us to think so. As do all the other early scenes, and all the middle ones as well. Maybe things will be different by the end? Their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) sure hopes so, because she’s getting married to a guy she just met in Bali (Maxime Bouttier) during a post-law school graduation vacation, and she’d kind of like to have their blessing. Meanwhile, Lily’s best friend Wren (Billie Lourd) is on hand to get constantly boozed up. And Georgia’s much younger flight attendant boyfriend Paul (Lucas Bravo) is also there to constantly worship her. What could possibly go wrong?! Or maybe, the better question is, what could possibly go right…

What Made an Impression?: I really didn’t think this was going to be a movie about a divorced couple falling back in love. The trailers had me convinced that they thoroughly hated each other’s guts to the point that there was simply no hope for reconciliation. And the first half of the actual movie didn’t make me reconsider. At all. David and Georgia are simply their worst selves when they’re around each other. Or just talking about each other. And even when they team up to sabotage their daughter’s nuptials, there’s hardly any tension of mystery to the mess-around, as Lily knows what their deal is, even if she doesn’t know exactly what they’re up to (though Clooney and Roberts are reliably devious).

But despite all that, it’s no spoiler to reveal that Ticket to Paradise is indeed about two wayward lovers finding their way back. We don’t see a whole lot of them being good to each other, so I was generally skeptical that their reunion was a good idea. But this is a big-hearted movie that wants us to be open to life-altering experiences, so I ultimately appreciated it taking the plunge.

I would also like to highlight one scene that really sticks out, in which a restless David stops by the bar for a late-night solo drink, when he’s unexpectedly joined by Wren. For a passing moment, I wondered if the father of the bride was about to sleep with her best friend. I brushed that thought aside, assuring myself that this wasn’t that type of movie, and indeed it’s not. Still, it was a strange, though edifying, encounter that fit with the whole ethos of “Don’t be so certain that you know everything.”

Ticket to Paradise is Recommended If You Like: The Parent Trap (1998), Mamma Mia! 1 & 2, Late in life beer pong

Grade: 3 out of 5 Proposals

This Is a Movie Review: ‘Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again,’ I Can (Mostly) Resist You

July 21, 2018

jmunney Cinema, Movie Reviews , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

CREDIT: Jonathan Prime/Universal Studios

This review was originally posted on News Cult in July 2018.

Starring: Lily James, Amanda Seyfried, Christine Baranski, Julie Walters, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgård, Jessica Keenan Wynn, Alexa Davies, Jeremy Irvine, Hugh Skinner, Josh Dylan, Dominic Cooper, Andy García, Cher, Meryl Streep

Director: Ol Parker

Running Time: 114 Minutes

Rating: PG-13 for Some Spicy Dialogue

Release Date: July 20, 2018

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again wants us to care about how a young Donna Sheridan (Lily James) met the three possible fathers of her daughter Sophie (Amanda Seyfried). Or really, it just wants us to accept that as the framework around which some beautiful people frolic around a sunny Greek isle while singing the songs of ABBA … again! Audiences who already dig this sort of thing appear generally willing to accept whatever thin framework there is. (The setup in the present day, in which Sophie re-opening her late mom’s hotel is threatened by rain, is even thinner.) So it feels petty of me to call out Here We Go Again for its vaguely drawn backstories. But I wouldn’t call attention to them if the script didn’t also keep doing the same thing. Donna and her suitors keep on talking about the lives they are running away from, and if that motivation is so important, I just want to know the specifics. Or really, I think these characters want to tell us the specifics.

For certain audiences, those shortcomings won’t matter one lick, but for me, Here We Go Again never overcomes the inherent weirdness of a musical. But there is some fun to be had along the way that threatens to sweep up everyone in its path. Certainly, Christine Baranski’s tasty bons mot (“be still my beating vagina”) cannot be beat. Cinematographer Robert Yeoman really lets the colors pop, especially the oranges. And the final number, featuring the entire main cast, including Meryl Streep as a beyond-the-grave Donna and Cher as basically herself, really does manage to be irresistible. I don’t want to be a fuddy-duddy, so I will admit I enjoyed myself, but I must say it all feels rather fluffy and empty.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is Recommended If You Like: Singing and Dancing Along Without Asking Any Questions

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 Waterloos