How Is a George Clooney and Julia Roberts Romantic Comedy So Bad?

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There are roughly 47,000—oh, wait, a new Netflix Original just dropped; make that 47,001—TV shows and movies coming out each week. At Obsessed, we consider it our social duty to help you see the best and skip the rest.

We’ve already got a variety of in-depth, exclusive coverage on all of your streaming favorites and new releases, but sometimes what you’re looking for is a simple Do or Don’t. That’s why we created See/Skip, to tell you exactly what our writers think you should See and what you can Skip from the past week’s crowded entertainment landscape.

Skip: Ticket to Paradise

Ticket to Paradise? This is a one-way ticket to Snoozeville! Not even Julia Roberts and George Clooney can save this glacially paced romcom devoid of any “rom” or “com.” More like rom-come on!

Here’s Fletcher Peters’ take:

“Ticket to Paradise seemed to have it all: a glimmering location, a light-hearted story, and, to top it all off, two of the greatest movie stars of all time. With Julia Roberts and George Clooney at the helm, Ticket to Paradise was set to be an all-inclusive cruise full of good times. Add in the director from Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, two of the Booksmart ladies, and the hunk from Emily in Paris—what’s not to love?

This movie. This movie is not lovable in nearly any way, unfortunately. I wasn’t hoping for Ticket to Paradise to be Ocean’s Eleven-meets-When Harry Met Sally, but after watching its charming trailer over and over again, I expected to have a little fun. Maybe it’d be a little like Marry Me-meets-My Best Friend’s Wedding. I can have a good time, even with a cheesy overload. Unfortunately, Ticket to Paradise really doesn’t deliver.

Sorry, Julia Roberts and George Clooney, ‘Ticket to Paradise’ Won’t Save the Romantic Comedy

But there’s not enough charisma in the world to power the boring script of Ticket to Paradise. There’s no yearning, an accessory Julia Roberts expertly sports in My Best Friend’s Wedding, nor is there the exquisite glamor of Notting Hill. Roberts’ chemistry with Clooney recreates what they had in Ocean’s Eleven, but without any actual excitement or stakes, why are we watching? If we wanted to see George and Julia, our old pals, goofing around, we could just watch videos from the press tour for this film. As much as I wanted to add Ticket to Paradise to my lengthy list of rom-coms to watch over and over again, unfortunately, I’ll have to resort to those promo YouTube clips and Ocean’s Eleven instead.”

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See: Inside Amy Schumer

Inside Amy Schumer returns after six years a little less rough around the edges, but just as much satirical bite. Come for the sendup of ubiquitous shapewear, stay for the fart jokes. (Seriously!)

Here’s Kyndall Cunningham’s take:

“Season 5 of Inside Amy Schumer is another amusing showcase of the comedian’s deftness when she sticks to what she knows rather than trying to comment on a larger spectrum of issues, like too many progressive comics aim to do. Similarly, it’s a relief that the Trainwreck star is able to demonstrate some growth (like resisting her early obsession with mindless jokes about race) without completely revising the elements of her comedy that actually work.

Based on the show’s extended hiatus and its new home at Paramount+, a fifth season of Inside Amy Schumer was never going to be the sort of attention-grabbing, must-see TV that helped catapult the comedian’s career. However, it’s proof that Schumer is still a star, despite the general dismissal she often receives online for her brand of raunchy, feminist humor.”

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Skip: Black Adam

Black Adam is a loud and obnoxious D.C. superhero dud. A movie with Dwayne Johnson, Noah Centineo, and Aldis Hodge in lycra suits being near-unwatchable is the real nail in D.C. comics’ cinematic coffin.

Here’s Nick Schager’s take:

“Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a charismatic and popular star who—with the possible exceptions of Michael Bay’s Pain & Gain, Peter Berg’s The Rundown, and Justin Lin’s Fast Five—has never made a very good, much less great, film. That streak continues with Black Adam (Oct. 21), Johnson’s first official foray into superherodom, in which he does a WWE-style heel turn by embodying the title character, an ancient, resurrected meta-human who thinks that murder is the best way to dispatch enemies. He’s a big bad who’s big mad, although it’s moviegoers who are apt to be irritated by this lame comic book-based origin story, which mimics Venom by pivoting around a supposed villain who’s destined to ultimately do good—minus the sense of humor that at least made Tom Hardy’s Marvel vehicle intermittently amusing.

‘Black Adam’ Is Yet Another Loud, Pointless DC Superhero Dud

For all its epic intentions, the film feels small, confined to a generic fictional locale that it promptly decimates. The material only flickers to life during those sparse instances when Hodge and Brosnan are granted a shot at building a rapport rooted in their shared history. Unfortunately, like Atom Smasher and Cyclone’s flirty exchanges, those moments are crushed under the weight of spectacular fights in which no one actually gets hurt (until, randomly, they do) and nothing really changes. While genre fans may delight in the sight of Adam obliterating a kid’s bedroom decorated with Justice League posters and toys, the main impression—emphasized by a post-credits scene with a supersized cameo—is that this is a trial run for Adam ahead of potentially bigger future showdowns, should box-office receipts justify a sequel.”

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See: American Horror Story: NYC

American Horror Story: NYC is a surprisingly competent addition to the anthology series, but will never be able to capture the horror of NY’s most haunted landmark: The Forever 21 in Times Square.

Here’s Emma Stefansky’s take:

“The year is 1981, and all is not well on the streets of New York City. American Horror Story: NYC, whose plot aside from location has been kept entirely under wraps, begins with a pile of trash lining a nighttime city street, a common enough sight even in today's New York, and a symbolic gesture hinting at what's in store for the eleventh season of Ryan Murphy's improbably successful horror anthology. This is an underworld story, one of death and desire amid the city's castoffs during a particularly punishing period of time.

There is an air of unknown doom that hangs about the show even in its first episodes, with people repeatedly mentioning a feeling of ominousness permeating the city, muttering things like, "Something dark is coming." Isn't it always? AHS: NYC has all the Murphy-esque signatures, and more: It's sexy, it's salacious, and it's subversive—not least because of the era and the community in which it's set. Like most seasons of this show, NYC starts strong, though it's difficult at this point to say exactly what's going on.”

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