Wednesday Whatever - Ticket to Paradise

 I love a good rom-com and Ticket to Paradise filled the heart. It was set in Bali - fabulous scenery. It had a solid cast - George Clooney (David), Julia Roberts (Georgia), Kaitlyn Dever (Lily), Maxime Boutier (Gede), Billie Lourd (Wren), and Lucas Bravo (Paul). It had a nicely predictable story that was executed well. Plenty of laughs, plenty of drama - all in under two  hours. 

I wanted to be entertained and I was, coming out of the theater smiling.   Clooney and Roberts were effortless, tossing off lines so easily. You can tell they were having fun  together  on the screen. As a bickering ex-couple trying  to keep their only daughter  from dumping her law career and marrying a guy she just met to live in Bali and work a seaweed farm, they were hilarious. 

As for Dever and Boutier, they were an earnest young couple in love, full of hope, and completely sincere. You rooted for them and had faith that this would pull together - families and cultures. 

Oh there's mishaps, miscommunications, and very tidy solutions. That's a rom-com. 

Punch your Ticket to Paradise and escape our  world for a few hours. Trust me.

Movie Review - Booksmart

On the cusp of graduating high school, besties Molly (Beanie Feldstein) and Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) are good girls with valedictory grades and grand plans. But their little world has assumed that their loser classmates are doomed to failure. However, a confrontational conversation in the school bathroom has Molly learning that her party animal classmates are headed to Ivy League schools.

She turns to Amy and vows to make up for lost time - to go to that last big party at the coolest kid's house, to go wild. These girls "have a mad, cartoon-chipmunk chemistry, playing characters who know each other so well that they finish each other's sentences and step on each other's lines. What their friendship needs is a little room to breathe. Booksmart is smart about that too. " ( Time 6/3-6/10/19)

Directed by actress Olivia Wilde, Booksmart is a coming of age tale for girls. It's exaggerated, funny, and endearing chaos.  "Nobody knows that we are fun, " laments Molly. I could identify with that as a total nerd in high school.

Booksmart can be silly and it crams a lot into it's 100 minutes,  but I was amused and laughed out loud several times.  Lots of pop culture references ring true, and the young actresses are perfect for their roles - attractively nerdy and average. Sometimes the foul language is a tad much, but that's often true these days. I could overlook it.

This might not be one for the theater for my blog friends, but don't roll by it when it's in your queue at home. It's smart enough and you don't have to read it - Booksmart!