Written and directed by Marc Fitoussi, when childhood friends Magalie and Blandine cross paths after many years, they decide to finally take their dream vacation to Greece. Starring: Laure Calamy, Olivia Côte, Kristin Scott Thomas, Alexandre Desrousseaux, Nicolas Bridet and Panos Koronis.
Comedy-dramas and road trips of middle-aged women rejecting societal pressures and embracing life is still a nice formula with plenty of breath left in it. It’s ripe for a feel-good, silly adventured tinged with emotional baggage and family strife. That’s basically what Two Tickets to Greece is aiming to do but some aspects hit the mark better than others. Primarily in that, it doesn’t ever really get a full grasp on the idea of female friendship, it’s very on the surface and by the book, it isn’t done with a lot of feeling or tenderness.
Secondly, in that for a film which labels itself as a comedy, it doesn’t really feel like one. It gives itself one boisterous character and expects her to bring the humour to the table when that’s not really her purpose. As well as using the old reliable of having friends who are opposite personality types, the fun one and the responsible one, it’s a fairly tired trope. It does manage to build up a bit more sincerity towards the end but for the most part it feels perfunctory, and the same goes for its direction, despite the picturesque setting.
It also can tend to move too slowly, the progression means that any tone of hijinks or calamity goes out the window pretty quickly. The only element it does manage to capture very consistently is the awkwardness, which is a shame because it has a decent cast to lean upon. Laure Calamy and Olivia Côte are both charming in their own individual ways and the bubbling tension between them is interesting. Although, it’s not really until Kristin Scott Thomas makes an appearance that things really click into place, the three of them together are a massive improvement. The quality of the scenes from that moment on are much higher.
Two Tickets to Greece had a nice but sadly unoriginal idea which turns into a slightly stereotypical adventure. You can see how much energy it wants to put into this film, mostly via the performances, but the story and direction aren’t backing them up. Ultimately, it’s a fairly generic attempt at a feel-good movie, still worth watching but missing any real connection or authentic insight into female friendship.
FilmCarnage.com 