Ticket to Paradise
Universal Pictures | Release Date: October 21, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
50
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 47 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
32
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Original-CinKim HughesOct 20, 2022
So, Ticket to Paradise… see or skip? Easy. See as there’s lots to enjoy. Bouttier as the wise-beyond-his-years Gede is absolutely rubberneck-worthy, the scenery and backdrops are gorgeous if out of reach for most of us, and the film crackles with energy. But you’ll be watching movie stars at work, and you’ll never forget it. Read full review
83
IndieWireElla KempSep 14, 2022
Much of the charm of Ticket to Paradise comes from knowing exactly how this story will end — what would a good romantic comedy be without a guaranteed happy ending? — without being totally certain of the journey to get there, because of the originality in the script. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleOct 19, 2022
Anyway, thanks to Lourd, Clooney and Roberts — who radiates an appealing groundedness and sanity, despite having been suffocatingly famous since her early 20s — “Ticket to Paradise” is a lot more enjoyable than it deserves to be. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearOct 20, 2022
While no one could accuse Ticket to Paradise of being a “great” movie, or even a “very good” one, there’s something about watching Clooney and Roberts butt up against each other in front of a screen-saver background that scratches a long-dormant itch. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGlenn WhippOct 20, 2022
Part of the appeal of Ticket to Paradise is seeing Roberts and Clooney together before they — and this type of glossy studio entertainment — become extinct. Read full review
67
The PlaylistJason BaileyOct 17, 2022
The pace drags in the home stretch a bit, and the laughs dry up considerably. None of this matters much. George and Julia spark and sparkle, which is what the trailers promise, and it’s what the movie delivers. Read full review
65
CNNBrian LowryOct 21, 2022
Think of Ticket to Paradise like a postcard of beautiful people having fun in a beautiful place and you’ll get along just fine. Giving it much more thought than that won’t help this rom-com vehicle for George Clooney and Julia Roberts, although the “com” part proves a trifle deficient in a movie that’s significantly better when it’s sweet than salty. Read full review
63
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenOct 27, 2022
While they’re enjoyable together, even Roberts on her own makes Ticket to Paradise worth watching; the movies have missed her ease on-screen, which is always tempered—just when it risks being flighty—with a quiet seriousness. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliOct 24, 2022
Although this features high wattage stars, it represents a curiously anachronistic attempt at escapist fare. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Sarah-Tai BlackOct 24, 2022
Even if the effect of watching two mega-screen icons banter back and forth for an hour and change doesn’t add up to much, Clooney and Roberts still have a sort of sparkle between them. It is the exact sort of wholly inoffensive, if bland, charisma that’s perfect for low-key, weekend watching (made even better in your pyjamas and on your couch). Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldOct 21, 2022
Ticket to Paradise is all about the welcome sight of a pair of movie stars who know exactly what to do with their wattage. Read full review
63
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperOct 19, 2022
We’re only about 20 minutes into the half-baked, ultra-lightweight, almost instantly forgettable rom-com “Ticket to Paradise” when our hearts start to sink, as we realize this big-screen re-teaming of Julia Roberts and George Clooney is quite likely going to be sideswiped and eventually sunk by a leaden screenplay that doesn’t come close to maximizing their massive respective star power. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleOct 17, 2022
Ticket to Paradise goes down as a footnote to the many superior rom-coms Roberts has sparkled in before. And if I wanted to watch Clooney in a tropical locale, I’d choose Alexander Payne’s lovely “The Descendants.” Read full review
60
The Irish TimesDonald ClarkeSep 16, 2022
The jokes land with satisfactory regularity. The locations are lovely throughout. But a middle-ranking Working Title rom-com – more Wimbledon than Notting Hill – may not be enough to revivify a spluttering genre. Read full review
60
EmpireBen TravisSep 14, 2022
With Clooney and Roberts cranking up the charm, even the creakier elements of Ticket To Paradise are watchable. A warm, witty, welcome escape from reality. Read full review
60
Screen DailyFionnuala HalliganSep 14, 2022
With a decades-long rapport on screen and off, they’re natural and sparky together, and Roberts joins Clooney in her decision not to presenting the cosmetically refreshed face of her peers. For that alone, Ticket To Paradise is a trip worth taking. Read full review
60
VarietyRichard KuipersSep 14, 2022
Looking and sounding like it could have been made 20 or 30 years ago, “Ticket” may not contain that much sparkling and sophisticated wit — or indeed many big belly laughs — but delivers sufficient smiles and chuckles to register as an easily enjoyable if unmemorable diversion for audiences seeking simple escapist entertainment. Read full review
60
The IndependentClarisse LoughreySep 14, 2022
It’s a joy to watch Julia Roberts and George Clooney fall in love. It’s an even greater joy to watch them bicker. Read full review
59
Paste MagazineAurora AmidonOct 27, 2022
Ticket to Paradise has all the components for a successful rom-com: A strong cast, a playful and inventive premise, a beautiful location. But the cast isn’t given much to do, the premise gets lost along the way, and even though the film was shot mostly on location in Australia, its oversaturated and sterile cinematography makes it look like CGI. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattOct 21, 2022
There's no doubt both actors deserve sharper, less silly material than this, but when they're playing beer pong in a Bali bar and drunkenly pogo-ing to House of Pain's "Jump Around," Paradise is almost, for a moment, a place on Earth. Read full review
55
ABC NewsPeter TraversOct 21, 2022
In a valiant effort to bring back the romcom, George Clooney and Julia Roberts sprinkle their stardust on a stale storyline that Rock Hudson and Doris Day might have found retro in the last century. Their hearts are in it, though, and that’s something.
55
TheWrapNicholas BarberSep 15, 2022
The film’s director and co-writer, Ol Parker, is so committed to light, feel-good escapism that he leaves out all of the requisite tension and twists — and, for that matter, the requisite jokes. Read full review
50
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonOct 21, 2022
The experience of watching Ticket to Paradise is pleasant enough; it goes down easy, like a smooth sugary mai tai. And for a while, it’s nice to just luxuriate in the confident hands of Clooney and Roberts, two movie stars who can coast through any old crap and make it fun. But after the sugar high of the honest-to-goodness blooper reel in the opening credits wears off, the rest of it is liable to give you a hangover. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comTomris LafflyOct 21, 2022
Bless the old school stars Roberts and Clooney for elevating this lackluster mélange and in certain instances, even making you forget about the non-sensical film that surrounds them. But that’s hardly enough, especially if you are hoping for a homecoming for the rom-coms of yore. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithOct 21, 2022
As it is, Ticket to Paradise is tolerable, but to make it a true pleasure would probably require some priming with a few glasses of arak. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiOct 20, 2022
Ticket to Paradise would be a better time if it was as campy as its lead actress’ frozen hair. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsOct 20, 2022
It’s a premise for a pitch, not a screenplay, at least not a sharp-witted or interesting one. I’m not fussy. I’m not looking for the most interesting romantic comedy in history with this one. But I do wonder if some writers are so determined to stick to a formula so slavishly, they forget to make the characters funny, or to make characters rather than vaguely delineated personae in the Clooney vein or Roberts vibe. Read full review
50
Washington PostPat PaduaOct 19, 2022
Though lacking in the script department, this cinematic wonderland delivers on one promise: escape, to a place of such natural beauty that even these affluent characters, however cardboard, are forced to take stock of the important things in life. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittOct 19, 2022
One doesn't put Roberts and Clooney together on screen without conjuring at least a little magic. But dusting off an old copy of her "America's Sweethearts" or his "One Fine Day" is more likely to scratch that rom-com itch. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyOct 19, 2022
Ticket is automatic-pilot smooth and formulaic familiar. It’s a romantic comedy, yes, and a star vehicle. But the category it most belongs to is airline movie — as in, a pleasure to watch in flight but less so on the ground. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleSarah JaneOct 19, 2022
I guess if a generic, run-of-the-mill rom-com floats your boat, you’d probably enjoy this one. Ticket to Paradise did not, in fact, float my boat. Read full review
50
SlashfilmJosh SpiegelOct 19, 2022
George Clooney and Julia Roberts remain two of the best, most charismatic movie stars to ever grace the silver screen, and we're fortunate to have cinematic proof of their heat and chemistry. Ticket to Paradise just isn't that proof. It's OK. But it should've been better. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 19, 2022
It’s just that every situation everybody gets into is a cliche (“stranded” for the night, etc). Throw in the fact that the movie’s on life support when the leads aren’t on screen, and you see the problem. Read full review
50
ObserverEmily ZemlerOct 12, 2022
The sum of Ticket To Paradise is less than its parts, which is a difficult feat when you have two major A-list stars at the helm. That doesn’t diminish the film’s general likability and possibility of becoming a Sunday afternoon comfort watch. If you’re nostalgic for a great rom-com, though, this isn’t it. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDavid RobbSep 28, 2022
George Clooney’s and Julia Roberts’s undimmed charisma brings enough grace notes to Ticket to Paradise that you could easily be taken in by its low-stakes frivolity. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinSep 14, 2022
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. Read full review
42
ColliderEmma KielyOct 19, 2022
To see Clooney and Roberts team up again when they have demonstrated in the past (the Oceans movies and Money Monster) that they go together like rum and coke is a lot of fun, but it also makes it undeniably noticeable that they deserve better. I don't mean an Oscar-worthy dramatic biopic. But a rom-com with some nuance and wit. Read full review
42
The Film StageAlistair RyderSep 26, 2022
Ticket to Paradise represents the genre at its laziest, coasting by on the natural chemistry between its two beloved lead stars, who eventually struggle to mine any humor from a script that quickly prioritizes unearned sentimentality over genuine laughs. Read full review
40
TimeStephanie ZacharekOct 21, 2022
If Clooney and Roberts are both wonderful actors, at this point they’re just not that good together, at least not in this setup. Read full review
40
The New YorkerRichard BrodyOct 21, 2022
To the extent that the movie’s charm depends on that of its two stars, they’re forced so rigidly into the plot’s contrivances that they have hardly any room to maneuver, hardly any chance to be merely observed, and are snippeted to live-action publicity stills of themselves. Read full review
40
The New York TimesAmy NicholsonOct 20, 2022
Roberts and Clooney wear their stature like sweatpants, rousing themselves to do little more than spit insults like competitive siblings. They’re selling their own comfortable rapport, not their characters’ romantic tension. Read full review
40
The Observer (UK)Xan BrooksSep 17, 2022
Clooney and Roberts try their best but they’re finally not much more than decoration themselves, the filmic equivalent of plastic figurines on a cake. Read full review
40
Time OutPhil de SemlyenSep 14, 2022
While the tartness and wit is missing to elevate this anywhere near the romantic-comedy canon, the overall vibe is so cosy and frothy, you’d need a heart of steel to hate it. Read full review
40
The TelegraphTim RobeySep 14, 2022
When it’s in-flight entertainment this winter, no one will necessarily moan, but it plays like a soothing feature-length trailer for your first cocktail on the beach. Read full review
40
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 14, 2022
Ticket to Paradise may well do great business to those looking for some escapist fun, and that’s entirely understandable. But I found the wacky double-act of George and Julia slightly hard work. Read full review
30
Little White LiesCharles BramescoOct 25, 2022
Clooney and Roberts remain masters of a dying art, mustering the flustered charisma that makes them appear both perfect and mortal, the same paradox we observe in our spouses and lovers. It’s a pity to see them settle like this, accepting less than they deserve, but it’s rough out there. Read full review
25
The A.V. ClubJordan HoffmanOct 20, 2022
It’s as if everyone made this movie about the joy of being on vacation—while also taking one. Read full review
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