Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth’s new Netflix movieLonely Planethad plenty of potential, but one major issue impacted its overall quality.Lonely Planetfollows the story of Dern’s character, Katherine Loewe, a famous writer with writer’s block who travels to Morocco for a writing retreat. On the trip, she meets Hemsworth’s character, Owen Brophy, who is in an unhappy relationship with his girlfriend Lily, an up-and-coming writer herself.
Withthe beautiful Moroccan settingas a backdrop, Katherine and Owen begin to develop feelings for one another, which is complicated for various reasons, not the least of which is the fact that Owen is still with Lily. The story tends to follow predictable beats of a romantic drama, but that is far from the most significant problem with the movie. Rather,one key problem withLonely Planet’scharacters negatively affects the entire movie.
Lonely Planet’s Supporting Characters All Fall Flat
Outside Dern and Hemsworth’s characters,Lonely Planet’scharactersare largely one-dimensional. This is especially true of Owen’s girlfriend, Lily Kemp (Diana Silvers), whose main purpose seems to be juxtaposing how great Katherine is with someone who is selfish, cruel, and egotistical. This is most evident when Owen and Lily participate in a party game involving guessing literary references, and Lily repeatedly implies that Owen is unintelligent because he doesn’t understand some of the clues.
Presumably, this is meant to make the audience feel okay about Owen cheating on Lily, but that isn’t effective.
As the supportive love interest opposite Lily’s characterization as a ‘nag,’ Katherine steps in and assures him that his clues were not only accurate but even better than the ones Lily wanted him to use. Presumably, this is meant to make the audience feel okay about Owen cheating on Lily, but that isn’t effective. Lily is also not the only character to get this treatment. Katherine also has an ex-lover on the trip, Ugo Jaconelli (Adriano Giannini), whose main trait is still being in love with Katherine.
Lonely Planet Ending Explained: Do Laura Dern & Liam Hemsworth’s Characters End Up Together?
Lonely Planet’s ending sees Laura Dern’s Katherine, an acclaimed novelist, and Liam Hemsworth’s Owen going on grand journeys of self-discovery.
Dern And Hemsworth Are Great, But Lonely Planet Needed More
Unsurprisingly,Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth are great inLonely Planet. Both are solid actors, and they have each starred as compelling love interests before in other movies. Even in light ofOwen and Katherine’s age gap, which at times makes their dynamic a bit awkward (such as when Katherine calls Owen"kid"in the middle of an amorous moment), they have on-screen chemistry.
Dern and Hemsworth’s performances just aren’t enough to makeLonely Planetwork.
Unfortunately, Dern and Hemsworth’s performances just aren’t enough to makeLonely Planetwork given this issue with the movie’s other characters. It feels as though the romantic arc between Katherine and Owen comes at the expense of every other character’s development and any storyline beyond the romance—even ones important to Owen and Katherine, such as Owen’s complex relationship with his job.Lonely Planetreally did have plenty of potential, but with so many characters going ignored, the movie felt as though it never went below the surface.
Lonely Planet
Cast
Lonely Planet follows the interconnected lives of several individuals as they navigate personal struggles and search for meaning in a contemporary urban setting. The film explores themes of isolation and connection in a rapidly changing world.
