COMING ATTRACTIONS

The Ticket to Paradise Trailer Heralds Julia Roberts’s Rom-Com Return


George Clooney and Julia Roberts on a beach in 'Ticket to Paradise'
Courtesy of IMDb, © 2022 Universal Studios

It’s been a full 20 years since Julia Roberts last starred in a rom-com, and it’s no mystery why, with Ticket to Paradise, she’s returning to the genre that put her on the map. “This only works if it’s George Clooney,” Roberts recently recalled thinking of the script. “Lo and behold, George felt it only worked with me.” Funnily enough, their characters in their fifth joint film would do anything not to reunite. The trailer that dropped on Wednesday stars Roberts and Clooney as a divorced couple whose marriage ended in shambles a decade and a half earlier. Their daughter, Lily (Kaitlyn Dever), has her heart set on marrying a local (Maxime Bouttier) she only just met on her post-graduation trip to Bali. And they in turn have their hearts set on ensuring she doesn’t repeat their mistakes.

Next thing they know, they’re sitting next to each other on a plane across the globe. “Did you make a pact to not murder each other until you murder me first?,” Lily says by way of greeting. She knows exactly what her parents are up to even before they start acting the opposite of smooth. They’re failing miserably with their mission, but at least they’re having fun teasing each other and playing beer pong!

It’s all classic rom-com, making it all the more surprising that Roberts has said the film may be a flop. “It’s probably going to be terrible because there’s too much potential for it to be great,” she told Variety last month. “It’ll just implode on itself.” Judge for yourself by watching the sneak peak below ahead of Ticket to Paradise’s October 21 release.