Although the title suggests it, Lonely Planet is not some outer-space sci-fi adventure, not even remotely. Perhaps it could have been called something more evocative of its tried and true genre, but writer/director Susannah Grant (Erin Brockovich) has crafted a somewhat standard and certainly familiar romantic drama about two people facing up to new self-revelations as they meet, talk, and finally hook up at a writers retreat in beautiful and remote Morocco. This kind of thing hinges completely on aligning with its stars, and with Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth passing the chemistry test with flying colors, Grant gets an ‘A’ for casting and placing them in an irresistible location that doubles as travelogue. What more do we need?
This is the kind of grown-up romdram Hollywood used to regularly serve up for adults and Grant isn’t reinventing the wheel here. There is oddly some comfort in the
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