Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
By Jonathan Klotz
| Updated
They don’t make movies like they used to. The complete lack of romantic comedies in movie theaters is proof that the genre has fallen from the heights it reached in the late 90’s and 2000’s. That didn’t stop George Clooney and Julia Roberts, two of the most popular stars in history, from doing their damndest to bring it back by sheer force of will. 2022’s Ticket to Paradise did the impossible by earning over $150 million at the box office, and now it’s available on Netflix for everyone who misses a lost era of cinema.
An Excuse For Clooney And Roberts To Go On Vacation
Clooney and Roberts play David and Georgia, a divorced couple, forced back into each other’s lives when their daughter Lily (The Last of Us star Kaitlyn Dever) has a whirlwind romance in Bali with Gede (French model Maxime Bouttier), resulting in a sudden destination wedding. David and Georgia both agree that this marriage is a mistake and work to sabotage it while pretending to be supportive of their daughter. If you think you know every single plot beat from that two-sentence description, congratulations, you’ve seen a romantic comedy before, because you’re right.
Ticket to Paradise throws a few complications at the family, including Georgia’s pilot boyfriend, Paul (Emily in Paris star Lucas Bravo), deciding he should come along for the ride, and Lily’s best friend, Wren (Billy Lourd) is sticking around for the wedding. The plot is a loose excuse to show the gorgeous Bali countryside, even if it’s actually Hamilton Island, Australia, and to give Clooney and Roberts an excuse to work together on-screen again.
This is the type of film where the reviews don’t matter. Ticket to Paradise isn’t a great film. This is the cinematic equivalent of popping bubble wrap: a brief moment of fun where all the terrors and responsibility of the world melt away, combined with the nostalgia of being young again. You don’t need a review score to tell you how, in 2026, you’ll feel about a George Clooney and Julia Roberts romantic comedy. You already know.
Ticket To Paradise Is The Best Rom-Com Of The Decade
Ticket to Paradise was never intended to be a box office success, though it was, easily clearing its budget of $60 million. The movie was destined to be a streaming hit. As part of Universal’s new partnership with Netflix, the film has left Peacock behind to find a new audience on a streaming platform people actually use. Since debuting on Netflix, it’s been in the top five, proving that George Clooney and Julia Roberts can still bring in an audience like no one else.
Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell tried to bring back the rom-com a year later with Anyone But Youand again, it was a hit, bringing in over $220 million in theaters. If established Hollywood megastars and the young, up-and-coming stars of tomorrow can both find success with romantic comedies, why aren’t more coming to theaters? Where’s the constant stream of light-hearted, low-stakes storytelling that defined so much of the 90s and 2000s?
Instead of kicking off a rom-com revival, Ticket to Paradise is an anomaly. It’s a film with no villain, the lowest stakes imaginable, and coasts entirely on the raw chemistry of its two leads. It’s also one of the best rom-coms of the decade and the perfect watch when you’re with and need something that everyone will love or at least, tolerate.
Ticket to Paradise is now on Netflix.
