Julia Roberts' 56% RT Movie Proves It's Time For This Long-Awaited Rom-Com Reunion (2024)

Julia Roberts made her long-awaited return to rom-coms with Ticket to Paradise, and it proved that it’s time for a rom-com reunion with one of her best co-stars. Although Julia Roberts has explored different genres throughout her acting career, she rose to fame when she starred in some of the most popular rom-coms from the 1990s. Roberts’ undeniable charm and talent for bringing both comedy and romance to her performances made her the undisputed queen of rom-coms of the 1990s – however, she left the genre in the 2000s and didn’t make a proper return to it until 2022.

Julia Roberts focused on projects from other genres, mostly drama, though she didn’t leave romance movies behind completely, as she starred in movies like Eat Pray Love and Valentine’s Day. Roberts explained she turned down rom-com scripts for 20 years because she couldn’t find good ones that would make her return to the genre, but that finally changed in 2022 with Ticket to Paradise – and despite its low critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, the audience’s warmer reception is proof that it’s time for Roberts’ longest-awaited and most exciting rom-com reunion.

Ticket To Paradise Was Julia Roberts’ Big Return To Rom-Coms

Ticket To Paradise Reunited Julia Roberts & George Clooney

Despite movies like Valentine’s Day potentially being considered rom-coms, Julia Roberts’ role in it was so small that it doesn’t quite count as a return to the genre. Roberts’ big return to the world of rom-coms was Ticket to Paradise, directed by Ol Parker and co-written by Parker and Daniel Pipski. Ticket To Paradise reunited Roberts with George Clooney to play divorced couple Georgia and David, who can’t stand each other. However, when their daughter Lily (Kaitlyn Dever) is getting married in Bali, Georgia and David are forced to spend time together for the sake of Lily and the wedding.

What follows are Georgia and David’s attempts to sabotage Lily’s wedding from within, but for that, they have to do their best to get along. The rom-com genre isn’t the critics’ favorites, and while there have been many that have earned their praise, many don’t have the same luck, and Ticket To Paradise was one of them. At the time of writing, Ticket To Paradise holds a 56% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it a “rotten label”, though critics praised the chemistry between Roberts and Clooney.

However, Ticket to Paradise has an 87% audience score, with viewers praising its scenery, story, tone, and, once more, the chemistry between its main characters. Ticket to Paradise was also a box office success, showing that the audience was a lot more welcoming of it and that there’s interest in seeing Julia Roberts in rom-coms again, proving that now it’s the time for the long-awaited reunion of Julia Roberts and Richard Gere.

Ticket To Paradise Proves It’s Time For The Long-Awaited Julia Roberts & Richard Gere Reunion

Julia Roberts’ Most Memorable Rom-Com Partner Was Richard Gere

Julia Roberts had different co-stars during her reign in the rom-com genre in the 1990s, but the best-remembered one is Richard Gere. Roberts’ first big rom-com hit in the 1990s was Garry Marshall’s Pretty Woman (1990), where she played Vivian Ward, a Hollywood escort hired by wealthy businessman Edward Lewis (Gere) to be his companion for different business and social events for a whole week. Pretty Woman was a critical and commercial success, boosting Roberts’ career and making way for another Roberts/Gere team-up nine years later.

Garry Marshall brought Julia Roberts and Richard Gere back together in Runaway Bride, which follows Maggie Carpenter, the title bride who has run away from three of her former weddings and is preparing for a fourth attempt, and Ike Graham, a news reporter who writes an article about Maggie. Maggie and Ike end up falling for each other as they get to know each other, but they also have to know themselves. Unlike Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride got negative reviews from critics, who didn’t like the story or the characters, but was a big box office success.

Still, the Roberts/Gere pair became an icon of 1990s rom-coms, and with the genre going through a resurgence, and Roberts back into it, it’s the perfect time to bring them back. As mentioned above, Ticket to Paradise proved the audience is still interested in seeing Roberts in rom-coms, and pairing her with Gere again after all those years could be successful.

Ticket To Paradise Offers The Perfect Solution For A Julia Roberts & Richard Gere Reunion

A Julia Roberts and Richard Gere rom-com reunion would be facing a couple of challenges, but Ticket to Paradise shows the best way to bring them back. Speaking to Deadline at Cannes Festival in May 2024, Gere mentioned that a third rom-com with Roberts wouldn’t be possible as Garry Marshall was “the glue of all of that” and it was “lightning in a bottle”, so his chemistry with Roberts couldn’t be replicated. While it’s true that Marshall was a big part of the magic of Pretty Woman and Runaway Bride, a Roberts/Gere reunion doesn’t have to look to replicate the chemistry they had in those movies.

One key detail that contributed to Ticket to Paradise’s success is that it didn’t have Roberts and Clooney playing a couple, and instead, the movie focused on their efforts to sabotage the wedding and the messy but fun situations they got themselves into. Roberts and Clooney were simply having fun and it showed, which is the formula that Julia Roberts and Richard Gere’s long-awaited rom-com return can follow to succeed.

Source: Deadline.

Ticket to Paradise

pg-13

Ticket to Paradise is a 2022 romantic comedy starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney and directed by OI Parker. The film revolves around parents David and Georgia Cotton. Despite being divorced, they travel to Bali together to attempt to stop their young daughter's marriage which they think is a mistake.

Director

Ol Parker

Release Date

September 20, 2022

Cast

George Clooney , Julia Roberts

Runtime

104 minutes