Although the title suggests it, Lonely Planet is not some outer-space sci-fi adventure, not even remotely. Perhaps it could have been called something more evocative of its tried and true genre, but writer/director Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) has crafted a somewhat standard and certainly familiar romantic drama about two people facing up to new self-revelations as they meet, talk, and finally hook up at a writers retreat in beautiful and remote Morocco. This kind of thing hinges completely on aligning with its stars, and with Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth passing the chemistry test with flying colors, Grant gets an ‘A’ for casting and placing them in an irresistible location that doubles as travelogue. What more do we need?
This is the kind of grown-up romdram Hollywood used to regularly serve up for adults and Grant isn’t reinventing the wheel here. There is oddly some comfort in the fact that Grant doesn’t really surprise in the nature of these types of film. Dern plays Katherine Lowe, a popular novelist who is attending a writers retreat in a gorgeous Moroccan resort setting. She also scores a stunning room, the kind only a Lana Turner or Elizabeth Taylor would be staying in during Hollywood’s golden age. She is shocked by the surroundings but basically oblivious to it all as she is a person who is all work as she types out her latest book on her beloved laptop and has no time for niceties, turning down the opportunity to dine with the other writers there and preferring to be left alone. You have to wonder why she wanted to come to this social occasion in the first place. She claims she was just looking for a quiet place. Apparently the library wasn’t good enough.
Among the others attending is a young writer, Lily Kemp (Diana Silvers) who has enjoyed sudden success with her first novel and now welcomed into the club of successful authors, hence the invite to this retreat with other serious writer-types from around the world. Coming along for the ride, seemingly at her insistence, is boyfriend Owen (Hemsworth), definitely a guy not on the intellectual level of the others but instead a plus-one who clearly feels awkward in this company, left to his own devices to kill the time. Meeting not-quite-cute, he goes off on his own around the grounds at night when he runs into Katherine, who is searching for bottles of water to fill her bathtub because the water is not working in her room.
Of course any longtime viewer of this kind of film will know immediately this brief encounter won’t be their last, and in fact while Lily and her new colleagues are meeting during the first day, Owen signs up for a local tour, and lo and behold there, once again, is Katharine, laptop in hand, the only other one in the van. His attempts to spark friendly conversation go awry as she wants to be left alone to her thoughts and her work, again shunning everyone else. Circumstances and engine trouble intervene eventually, and the two find themselves stranded together at the driver’s house while he gets the problem fixed before taking them back to the hotel. It turns out to be fun, but not exactly pleasing to Lily who didn’t even realize Katherine was at the retreat. Turns out Katherine was Lily’s inspiration to become a writer in the first place, and Lily can’t believe Owen has befriended Katherine.
Slowly, Katherine warms up to the younger but sensitive man who is definitely feeling like he has no purpose there, especially after being unintentionally humiliated by Lily in a group game of charades involving famous books. Katherine feels his hurt because she has repressed hurt of her own. They talk, they get to know each other’s nicknames in school, and the stage is set for this relationship to bloom, two people who see each other in ways they haven’t been seen by others in a long time. Being off in a nice but remote foreign country actually makes what comes next inevitable – and impossible.
Dern delivers a nicely modulated performance, completely believable as a successful career person who drowns her sorrows, such as they may be, in her work and life narrative, not an easy nut to crack. Hemsworth makes Owen likeable and relatable, and therefore we have real empathy for him as he not only feels like the outsider at this retreat, but increasingly an outsider in his own relationship. Lily’s sudden, instant fame has taken a toll, even as she wants things to be as they were. But they certainly can’t be, a fact laid out unquestionably when she gets word of a new two-book publishing deal, and Owen doesn’t share her level of excitement. Silvers effectively plays the third wheel in this romantic story, and the rest of the international cast get their moments now and again. Ultimately, it’s all about Dern and Hemsworth, and how fortunate that we are in such good hands.
Producers are Liza Chasin, Sarah Timberman, and Grant.
Title: Lonely Planet
Distributor: Netflix
Release date: October 11, 2024 (Streaming)
Director-screenwriter: Susannah Grant
Cast: Laura Dern, Liam Hemsworth, Diana Silvers, Younès Boucif, Adriano Giannini, Rachida Brakni
Rating: R
Running time: 1 hr 34 min