Last Updated on October 11, 2024 by
Lonely Planet is a 2024 drama Movie directed and written by Susannah Grant. The film stars Laura Dern, Liam Hemsworth, and Diana Silvers, with a runtime of 1 hour 34Min, and was released on October 11, 2024.
The story follows two main characters: Katherine is played by Laura Dern, and Owen is played by the talented Liam Hemsworth. Katherine is a prolific writer from a television show who is struggling to complete her latest project. She has writer’s block, which describes a situation where she can barely come up with ideas or words for her book. Worse still, her personal life is deteriorating and she believes she has no escape. Katherine needs to take her mind off everything, so she books a flight to Morocco to attend a writers’ workshop. What was supposed to be a creative writing retreat to rejuvenate the authors’ creativity becomes a hiding place for Katherine to escape her reality. On the other side, Owen is a businessman who works for a private equity firm, but the given job profile is not satisfactory for him.
He traveled to Morocco and is not on business but to be with his girlfriend, Lily, portrayed by Diana Silvers, who is a first-time writer on the fateful retreat to celebrate her new book. While Lily looks forward to meeting fellow writers, Owen is not as enthusiastic about this, and it shows. They are all portrayed as stressed over their work, including trying to get through business calls in Morocco only for there to be no signal on the cellphone that is in the scene.
But while the story begins with Katherine getting to Morocco, things begin to go awry from the outset. She is frustrated because her airline has misplaced her luggage, therefore, she is stuck with no change of clothes, and she also does not have her laptop through which she has been writing her book. Staying at the retreat, she feels unattractive and hopeless as all the people surrounding her appear to be successful, while she is just stuck with her creativity crisis. At the same time, Owen has decided to follow Lily, and he is equally as confused as she is. He is unhappy with his job and is unsure about his romantic relationship with Lily, who is seemingly using him.
Katherine and Owen first meet in a peculiar scene on a rooftop. Katherine is hungry and searching for water, whereas Owen is angry that he cannot get a signal on his phone. They both are fed up with their respective situations and while there are a few uncomfortable encounters, they begin to appear friendlier. The climax occurs when they find themselves riding the car together to another town. At first, she dislikes Rusty and simply rejects his company, but by the evening she agrees to have dinner together with him. Katherine eventually confides her difficulties with writing as well as her personal life, to which Owen sympathizes with him stating that his job is killing him and that he is also having issues with his girlfriend.
In the course of the movie, Katherine and Owen often share scenes and travel through Morocco with increasing intimacy, including visiting the house where their car broke down and getting to know their taxi driver. They immerse themselves in the given country’s culture and cuisine to bond with each other. Owen begins to understand that his marital situation with Lily is not healthy. Lily’s unconcern about his presence and self-centered disposition makes it rather simple for him to leave her life.
At the same time, Katherine herself feels at the lowest point in her life. Her promising relationship has failed, and she is frustrated that her career is unprogressive. Another man, OWEN who is gentle and appears to be very charming (again loves using football terminologies) seems to fulfill the void she has had. However, as the two characters argue to know each other, it is evident that it is a physical stand plus the fact that they both have some issues that they go through.
As much as writer-director Susannah Grant tries to make Lonely Planet more of a ‘small movie love story’, where two protagonists slowly and gradually drift towards each other as they solve their issues, the film fails to sincerely tug at the heartstrings. However, as for character development, the movie does not go deep enough into the personalities of these characters. I found that the chemistry between Katherine and Owen was quite weak at times and many scenes were rather clichéd. For one, Owen is overly emotional and is depicted as being easily hurt implying that the relationship they both shared was more like a fling.
The grand Moroccan landscapes are stunning, and one can sense some effort put into portraying the character of Katherine by Laura Dern, but Lonely Planet is far from being more than a simple romantic cliché. One also cannot help but feel empathetic towards the characters and their issues which seem like they could be solved with better character development and less stubbornness. In conclusion, it is visually pleasant and not much more beyond that, it is quite a forgettable movie for the most part.
Lonely Planet 2024 Parents Guide Age Rating
Lonely Planet is rated R by the Motion Picture Rating (MPA) for language, some sexual content and brief nudity.
Language: The language used in the film is explicit, that is there are many abuses and curse words used in the film. Characters may get frustrated, angry, or just chit chat with one another in a rather crude language that includes the use of swear words. This involves simple obscene words such as ‘f***’, ‘s***’, and any other disliked word. They are found in moments of high emotion and in everyday conversations that may contain content not appropriate for children.
Sexual Content and Nudity: Due to the scenes of some intimacy with Katherine (Laura Dern) and Owen (Liam Hemsworth), the film received an R rating for sexual content. Although the storyline of the movie revolves around the love story of the characters, the movie contains scenes of sex including partial nudity and sexually provocative dancing. Such scenes may contain lip touch, instances of partial nudity, intense embracing, or other forms of implied sexual behavior.
Sometimes nudity can be a scene that is not related to sexuality but it is present, for example, in scenes when characters change their clothes, maybe because Katherine has lost her luggage, or other scenes in the movie where the theme of intimacy is depicted. It is also possible to hear occasional conversation or teasing between characters with sexual undertones. These scenes have to be considered relatively graphic, and thus queasiness for the young spectators is justified.
Alcohol and Drug Use: There are scenes where characters are seen using alcohol in the movie. At dinners and receptions, or any other occasion at the writers’ retreat, characters are depicted consuming wine, cocktails, beer, and other spirits. Falling under the spirit of eating together, Katherine and Owen may take a drink together during their intimate time.
Although the issue of substance abuse is not very prominent in the film, drinking is depicted as a normal procedure among adults. The use of alcohol can be observed in scenes where characters may need to take a break or enjoy themselves or when they are under pressure. Nevertheless, there is no portrayal of drug use at all, and any alcohol drinking does not result in irresponsible behavior or even drunkenness in the movie.
Violence: There are no scenes of violence, but there are some fights and passionate scenes in Lonely Planet. Characters may yell at each other or show their annoyance with each other particularly at the instance when Owen and Lily are in conflict or when Katherine and some participants of the retreat are at loggerheads. These verbal communications can be characterized by raised voices, the use of foul language, and emotion-based aggression.
However, there is no combat, fight scenes, or violence, including threats to use or act out physically aggressive behaviors. There is no physical combat to solve any emotion of disagreeableness or hostility but rather through talking.
