Two Tickets to Paradise – DVD Review

D.B. Sweeney is one of those actors that is likable in almost every role he takes on. He’s an actor with a strong presence that understands what it takes to really nail a performance, and now he has proved that he has what it takes to rock the director’s chair as well. With Two Tickets to Paradise, Sweeney wears multiple hats. He’s the director, co-writer, producer, and of course an actor in this coming-of-age-a-little-late tale.

The story is a simple one. It follows three friends that are all experiencing difficulty with the tumultuous weight that comes with being a grown up. Sweeney plays Billy, a washed up almost-was rocker that can’t let go of the past and who just found out his wife is cheating on him. John C. McGinley is Mark, a husband and father that pushes his duties as head of household aside to focus on his gambling addiction. And finally Paul Hipp is Jason, a guy that never got married and works a dead end job. However, it’s Jason that is the linchpin that holds the group together. After winning two tickets to a college football game, Jason and his friends have a reason to hit the road.

I love road movies. I always have. Road movies have a way of pushing characters to the brink and teaching them lessons they could never have learned at home. Two Tickets to Paradise is a road movie. As the characters in Two Tickets to Paradise trek from town to town, they pick up nuggets of insight into themselves that prove to be invaluable.

Sweeney and his cast mates brought to life some of the easy to identify with characters I’ve seen in a long time. These guys are every-men. They could be the guy sitting next to you on the bus, or the guy that rings up your order at the hardware store. Living, breathing characters that are flawed and believable. Even the secondary characters, like Ed Harris’s Melville are fantastic.

I’m hoping Sweeney found the director’s chair comfortable enough to return to it very soon. His eye for quality acting served him well with this flick, and his writing skills elevated the movie to an exemplary level. If, like me, you are tired of paper thin acting and movies made specifically for people under thirty, then this movie is for you. Two Tickets to Paradise is a road movie with heart, that isn’t afraid to appeal to a middle aged audience. Do yourself a favor and check it out because it is absolutely a killer film.

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