'Lonely Planet' movie review: A Mushy Mess
Susannah Grant’s Lonely Planet is the latest addition to Hollywood’s recent obsession with the ‘older, successful woman falling in love with a younger man with washboard-abs’ trope. The film opens with a plane landing in Morocco, and it is already an overly familiar rom-com territory for the viewer. The early scenes are excessively detailed, especially since the film’s later portions miss out on opportunities for deeper exploration.
For instance, there are needless scenes showcasing the hospitality of the resort where the lead pair finds each other. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself wondering if you were watching an ad for Morocco tourism.
The setup is standard rom-com fare: an exotic location, attractive people with baggage, potential threats, and plenty of drinking. Laura Dern plays Katherine Loewe, seemingly modelled after JK Rowling. As for her countenance, she seems perpetually annoyed.
She meets Owen Brophy (Liam Hemsworth), a private equity employee, who seems to take after Liam Hemsworth, only he speaks exclusively in corporate jargon. Within 10 minutes, the story becomes predictable. The plot hurries from one situation to another, completely ignoring all the room character exploration, preventing the film from becoming a potential gold mine of a relationship drama.
For example, when Owen feels out of place while others discuss unfamiliar topics. The film never really gets deeper into the specifics, making it difficult for the viewer to empathise with Owen when he makes drastic decisions.
In a film that is content with being surface level, these questions may not arise. But Lonely Planet constantly hints at possibilities of multidimensional characters, only to move swiftly to the next plot point. Why does Katherine, who supposedly dislikes being around people, find herself drawn to Owen?
There’s a line along the lines of, “I like you and feel good with you,” but is liking someone you just met enough to make you reconsider your entire life? Why are the characters’ flaws and hypocrisies left largely unexplored? Adding more runtime to the film’s 96-minute duration may have given them scenes showing how they transitioned from point A to point B. Lonely Planet sits somewhere between realism and fantasy, landing in a space where it’s watchable, so it can motivate you to travel and meet new people, but to a more discerning viewer, it may just feel like a waste of time.