New to Netflix is the romantic drama, Lonely Planet. The movie – written and directed by Susannah Grant – stars Laura Dern, Diana Silvers, and Liam Hemsworth, and follows the story of a novelist who finds romance in Morocco.
In the movie, Katherine Loewe is a successful writer, who travels to a retreat in Marrakesh to complete her latest novel. Upon arrival, she checks in and prepares to work.
Also in attendance at the retreat is writer, Lily Kemp and her boyfriend, Owen. Lily is at the retreat to work, Owen is there for emotional support, and both are happy they have checked into such idyllic surroundings.
During the first night at the retreat, Owen is out on the roof making a business call when he bumps into Katherine. They share a few words and part ways.
The next morning, Katherine takes a trip which she believes is a solo excursion. However, by chance, Owen takes the same trip and they share a car ride.
Although they don’t speak to each other in the car, as Katherine is busy writing, Katherine and Owen do share lunch at their destination. Here they get to know each other a little better before embarking on a road trip back to the retreat.
Over the next few days, Katherine and Owen bump into each other at regular intervals. The more time they spend together, the more they become attracted to one another.
Lovely to look at, but uneventful and frightfully dull, Lonely Planet is the cinematic equivalent of pretty wallpaper. You can sit in front of it; you can admire its beauty; and you can appreciate the time and money that went into making it; but don’t expect anything more.
At the end of the day, wallpaper is wallpaper. It exists in the background, but unless you’re a wallpaper connoisseur there’s no real need to talk about it.
Lonely Planet is this in a nutshell. It exists, but theres not much going on here and very little to discuss (very little of value anyway).
It’s a film, it’s on Netflix, and it stars two recognisable actors. There’s not much more to it.
Oh, you actually want me to talk about Lonely Planet? Oh, right, well I guess this is a review after all.
Erm… essentially, man meets woman, man and woman hit it off, and a romance follows. Man has tricky problem of already having a girlfriend, but man and girlfriend are on the rocks and the audience is asked not to sweat the details.
Should they sweat the details? Nah, she’s having it away with someone else anyway, so it’s all good in the hood.
All you really need to care about is the following: Hemsworth plays Owen, Dern plays Katherine. Owen is hunky, Dern is hot, and they get it on in Morocco.
If you can stay awake long enough to make it to the end of the movie, congratulations, you will have managed to survive being bored to death. However, do be aware you will have wasted 90 minutes of your life.
And I’m sorry to say, neither Liam Hemsworth, Laura Dern, nor writer/director Susannah Grant will reward you or give you those 90 minutes back. The only consolation is that you will have been able to look at the beauty of Marrakesh, which may convince you a holiday is in order.
As for being entertained? Forget it.
Lonely Planet is boring. It might look nice, but it’s boring.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this review on It’s A Stampede!. For more reviews, check out the recommended reads below.
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