


Once David and Georgia land in Bali, the script can’t stop plugging how beautiful the landscape is. Then, it’s on a plane to Bali after they’ve been invited to attend Lily’s wedding, the young woman having fallen in love with Bali-native Gede (Maxime Bouttier), a seaweed farmer. First, it’s at Lily’s graduation from university in Chicago, where they compete over who loves Lily more.
J.u.l.i.a. among the stars review code#
So supposedly toxic is their antipathy to one another that they can’t even be in the same zip code at the same time.Īnd yet the script (by the film’s director Ol Parker and co-writer Daniel Pipski) contrives to seat them next to each other at a series of events, like a mischievous deus ex machina with little imagination but magical command over seating placements. Roberts and Clooney are cast as Georgia and David, a couple who were married 25 years ago, had a daughter named Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) and then split up after five years. That is literally pretty much the plot of this movie. 21 (Universal Pictures)Ĭast: George Clooney, Julia Roberts, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd, Maxime Bouttier, Lucas Bravo, Genevieve Lemon, Cintya Dharmayanti, Agung Pinda From the point of view of millennials or Gen Z kids, they’re like a seldom-met aunt and uncle, tossing little barbed zingers at each other before they get drunk, do goofy dances to early 1990s bangers and make out. In fact, it’s the first time in a while either of them have done anything substantial at all for the big screen (Roberts’ last starring theatrical role was Ben Is Back in 2018 Clooney’s was in The Midnight Sky in 2020), so it’s easy to feel generous and welcome them back, especially given how much fun they are to be around. It’s the first time the actors have been paired on screen since dreary hostage drama Money Monster (2016), and it’s their first proper comedy together since they made those first two highly enjoyable Ocean’s movies with Steven Soderbergh at the helm back in the aughts. Thinly scripted rom-com Ticket to Paradise puffs its way through 104 minutes mostly on the vapors of its lead actors gassing around together, albeit with an assist from spectacular Australian scenery standing in for Bali. But when those stars are George Clooney and Julia Roberts, the combustive power of their pairing will go a long-ish way.
J.u.l.i.a. among the stars review movie#
It’s a foolhardy plan to craft a film almost entirely around the onscreen chemistry between two movie stars and hope for the best.
