Watching a good rom-com should be like “finding hope in a big mess.” In “Lonely Planet,” Netflix’s latest romance, 30-something Owen Brophy (Liam Hemsworth) believes the same sentiment applies to his Moroccan tryst with 50-something Elizabeth Lowe (Laura Dern). Within this paradigm, romance is supposed to be the antidote to the complicated realities of life; however, like with love, the fantasy of what could be does not often match reality as is.
The reality is that these days, rom-coms themselves are often more messy than hopeful. And they aren’t the endearing kind of mess that makes a leading love interest more relatable or a fated relationship feel more attainable.
Instead, the genre is muddled with low-budget, underwritten cable clichés (Hallmark’s new lineup of holiday movies will begin to air this week) and higher-budget, overproduced stories that just aren’t that good. Some of this year’s biggest rom-coms in the latter category have also featured an age gap, like Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine in their underwhelming adaptation of “The Idea of You” for Prime Video and Nicole Kidman and Zac Efron in their generic Netflix film “A Family Affair.”
While Dern and Hemsworth are the latest big names to join this trend, their movie stands out as the best of streaming’s recent age-gap romances because it engenders more hope than mess (even though it’s definitely still a little messy).
The film, written and directed by Susannah Grant, takes place during an international writer’s retreat outside Marrakech at a stunning hotel with picturesque patios overlooking the Atlas Mountains. Elizabeth, a best-selling novelist in an undefined genre, arrives for the retreat post-breakup and on deadline. Owen, a finance bro, is present as a plus one. His girlfriend, Lily Kemp (Diana Silvers), is a new writer whose first book, a “glorified beach read,” hit the bestseller list and catapulted her career to a level that led to her invitation to this retreat, and she’s still green enough to bring her boyfriend along.
While Elizabeth is only there for space and time to finish her book, Lily is there to network and explore a new country. Owen isn’t quite sure why he agreed to go. He doesn’t love traveling. “People always say it’s going to be this transformative experience, you know. Go to a new, exotic place. Meet the new, exotic you. But you get there, and you’re not new or exotic. You’re just you,” he laments to Elizabeth…
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