''Two Tickets to Paradise'' is a 2006

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

D. B. Sweeney Daniel Bernard Sweeney (born November 14, 1961) is an American actor. Early life Sweeney was born in Shoreham, New York, on November 14, 1961. He attended both Tulane and New York University. Career In 1990, Sweeney starred as Treplev in Jeff Co ...

in his directorial debut. It stars

John C. McGinley John Christopher McGinley (born August 3, 1959) is an American actor. His best known roles include Perry Cox in '' Scrubs'', Bob Slydell in ''Office Space'', Captain Hendrix in '' The Rock'', Sergeant Red O'Neill in Oliver Stone's ''Platoon,'' ...

, Sweeney, and

Paul Hipp Paul Hipp (born July 16, 1963) is an American actor, singer, songwriter and filmmaker. Early life Paul Hipp was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and grew up in Warminster. He left Pennsylvania for New York City immediately after high school, st ...

as three lifelong friends who go on a road trip to escape dissatisfaction with their lives.

Synopsis

The story revolves around three 40-ish lifelong friends from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who go on a road trip in search of themselves. The friends have just two tickets to a major college bowl game in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and along the way the friends run into a few surprises, and some serious self-discovery.

Production

Sweeney decided to make the film after visiting a friend, a

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

firefighter who survived the 9/11 attacks. When Sweeney suggested to his friend that going to see a movie might cheer him up, his friend replied, "They don’t make movies for guys like us." Filming locations included

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...

and the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

area.

Music

The film includes music by

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years, ...

Dire Straits Dire Straits were a British rock band formed in London in 1977 by Mark Knopfler (lead vocals and lead guitar), David Knopfler (rhythm guitar and backing vocals), John Illsley (bass guitar and backing vocals) and Pick Withers (drums and percuss ...

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American singer and songwriter. He has released 21 studio albums, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he is an originat ...

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...

and American Minor. Springsteen in particular agreed to lend his music to the film because he was a fan of the film '' Eight Men Out'', which starred Sweeney.

Cast

as Mark Hewson *

as Billy McGriff *

as Jason Klein * Janet Jones Gretzky as Sherry, Mark's wife * Tristan Gretzky as Hayden, Mark's son *

Pat Hingle Martin Patterson Hingle (July 19, 1924 – January 3, 2009) was an American character actor who appeared in stage productions and in hundreds of television shows and feature films. His first film was ''On the Waterfront'' in 1954. He often play ...

as Mr. Hewson, Mark's terminally ill father * Moira Kelly as Kate * Ed Harris as Melville * Nina Kaczorowski as Scarlet *

M. C. Gainey Michael Connor Gainey (born January 18, 1948) is an American character actor best known for his appearances in ''Lost'', ''Con Air'', ''Sideways'', ''Tangled'', and ''Django Unchained''. Early life Gainey was born in Jackson, Mississippi. In the ...

as Barbosa * Rex Linn as Karl The cast also includes

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

reporter

Jenn Brown Jennifer Lynne Brown (born March 23, 1981) is an American sports broadcaster and television host. A former Division I Collegiate Athlete for the University of Florida, she spent eight years as a reporter and host for ESPN and ''American Ninja W ...

as a Hooters waitress, and cameos by Vanna White as herself, Gerald McGinley, John's father, as the dentist, and Jean Jones, Janet Jones' mother, as her mother. The movie was Pat Hingle’s final film.

Release

The film premiered at the

Method Fest Independent Film Festival The Method Fest Independent Film Festival is an independent film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festiva ...

on April 6, 2006 and went on to play the film festival circuit. It was released on DVD in June 2008 by First Look International. It was re-released on DVD in 2010.

External links

* * *

References

{{refs 2006 films 2006 comedy films 2006 directorial debut films 2006 independent films 2000s comedy road movies American buddy comedy films American comedy road movies Films directed by D. B. Sweeney Films set in Pennsylvania Films shot in Florida Films shot in North Carolina Films shot in California Films about alcoholism Midlife crisis films 2000s buddy comedy films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films