Cr. Hilary Bronwyn Gayle/Netflix © 2024
From Oscar & Emmy nominated writer/director Susannah Grant, Lonely Planet sees the talented creator bring her own script to life as a feature film director for the first time since 2006’s Jennifer Garner-led dramedy Catch and Release. The Academy previously nominated Grant in 2001 for her script for Best Picture contender Erin Brockovich. She was also nominated for multiple Emmys for her work as showrunner, writer, & director on the celebrated Netflix mini-series Unbelievable.
Set in Morocco, Grant’s new film centers around Katherine, a long-time, successful novelist (played by Oscar winner Laura Dern), who travels to an international writer’s retreat to escape her crumbling relationship and finish her latest novel.
While she is mostly sequestered to her room and avoiding her peers, Katherine finds herself spending time with Owen (played by Hunger Games & “Witcher” star Liam Hemsworth), a financial business man attending the retreat as a plus-one to his author girlfriend Lily.
The two find a bond in their avoidance, Katherine in her writing and Owen as the 3rd wheel to his girlfriend and her new, fascinating writer friends, and soon they figure out that maybe what they need to get unstuck in their current stations in life is someone who sees them for who they truly are and inspires the best in one another. What started as a simple acquaintanceship quickly evolves into an intoxicating, life-altering love affair.
Now, the purely cynical read from a critic that follows Netflix content closely is that here we are again; put a movie in an exotic locale not seen often on screen to fuel the interest in the streamer abroad and give the type of audience this movie seems to get a “travel porn” appeal that can be comforting, cultural, & background fodder while you scroll through your Instagram feed. Like I said, totally cynical.
But some Netflix Original Movies ACTUALLY play to that. A Tourist’s Guide To Love, Resort To Love, Falling Inn Love, Mother of the Bride to some extent.
While there are plenty of local color shots & breathtaking views of Morocco, Lonely Planet plays just enough above the empty calories, travel log TV movie spectrum that it becomes far more engaging and watchable than its title, plot line, & genre may suggest.
The story examines more things than just how, why, & should two people fall in love; it also looks at what we believe we should get from travel even though we bring our emotional baggage with us wherever we go. Why should a place change us when we aren’t willing to change who we are as people or change the company we keep? This movie tries to give more depth to the human experience and give better conversation than surface level, meet-cute romance. It wants to give time & creedence to the loneliness we can feel even when we are surrounded by interesting people & cultural discovery.
But, of course, no dialogue or insights mean anything unless the chemistry of its leads work for its audience. Thank goodness Dern & Hemsworth do just enough to draw us in; Dern with her age-defying beauty, believable strength & intellect, snappy snark, & raspy tone; Hemsworth with the gentle giant demeanor, perfect hair even in the middle of the desert, soul-piercing eyes, and affable personality. You get lost in their conversations more than you care if they kiss, but probably don’t mind if they do. Heck, you probably never think twice that Hemsworth is leaving an author who may put her career & needs ahead of his well being for ANOTHER AUTHOR who may very well do the same thing … because we also want to hang out with Laura Dern. She gets us, right?
While Dern & Hemsworth give us what we want for the most part, there are aspects of the film that seem to venture into the “filler” territory, which doesn’t help when you’re only a 90 minute narrative. The setting and its local excursions didn’t work well on me personally; the shops (buying little stars for the apartment?) & the interactions at the local home after the car engine failure (tea and one-sided conversation is great?) among other things didn’t give me the FOMO that many of these films attempt to give us. Even Laura Dern’s Katherine turns down a trip to the desert because she’s “seen it” and probably hasn’t changed, so why should I care.
Picture: Netflix
Overall, Lonely Planet is a well-paced, slow-burn romance that leans into the strengths of its Oscar-nominated writer. The ever-radiant Dern is in her snarky intellectual bag with a useful volley partner in Liam Hemsworth. Their chemistry improves as the story progresses and limits the attention paid to the film’s more aimless or less engaging features.
Watch Lonely Planet If You Liked:
- Under the Tuscan Sun
- A Tourist’s Guide to Love
- Catch and Release
- Find Me Falling
MVP of Lonely Planet
Laura Dern as Katherine Loewe
She’s Laura Dern, ok? She’s an Oscar-winning & Emmy-winning actress. She’s been in major blockbuster franchises. She’ll shine in indie darlings. Spielberg, Lynch, Baumbach, Gerwig, Paul Thomas Anderson, Alexander Payne. She’s worked with everyone in every genre and met the challenge every time. She’s simultaneously someone who you don’t want to mess with AND someone you WANT to get messy with.
So it should come as no surprise that, even with a movie that seems on paper like standard romantic drama fare, she can elevate & engage with us with ease. In Katherine, she found a woman who’s famous, successful, & well-traveled but also equally stuck, lonely, & scared of taking a risk on people. She can give an air of sophistication & strength to any character she plays while also having enough charm, wit, & vulnerability to be approachable. Dern is and always will be a must-watch.
A cut above your standard streaming overseas romantic dramas. Dern & Hemsworth pass the “hang” test and the story gives more depth & shading than we’re used to in the genre.
