When it comes to romantic comedies, the options for originality are limited. For an unexpected romance to happen, we need two people going through problems and finally falling in love. Lonely Planet has no intention of provoking epiphanies or being unforgettable and instead builds on what we know to retell the same old story. And it doesn’t fail.

The big romantic hit of the second half of the year is also on Netflix and is the series Nobody Wants This, which even got a second season. Perhaps because it is a true story, the series has been a hit with lovers from several generations. In the case of Lonely Planet, the story is a kind of Eat, Pray, Love combined with the wave of older women in romances with younger men (as we saw in The Idea of ​​You and All in the Family). But you know what? It works.

Laura Dern is clearly an exceptional actress who can work magic with a shred of story. Here we have writer Katherine Loewe, who is going through a divorce and is stuck on a book that needs to be finished. She goes on a writers’ retreat in Morocco and embarks on a journey of self-understanding. Who completes the puzzle? Owen, the divine boyfriend of another writer, played by Liam Hemsworth, is going through moments of decision, both professionally and emotionally. They are two people, lonely and alone, but without the strength to start over.

Owen has nothing to do with that universe, being a finance man, but he is the companion that all the women (except his girlfriend, it seems) want. Obviously, he and Katherine bump into each other at the hotel in the most unexpected way, and, little by little, they connect.

The film has been criticized by critics in general, but I dare – as a mature woman – to argue against those who complain. Lonely Planet is different and interesting. First, the heroine is neither a bitter nor a neurotic woman, but a person who is going through a tumultuous time. Second, the attraction between the two is immediate, but besides being understandable, it is gentle and at a plausible pace. In a lonely world that is the original title, two souls who want the same thing meet and unite.

Of course, the exoticism of Morocco is used as part of the mutual decision to get to know each other better and explore the adventure of falling in love. Of course, a detail, well, an annoying fact (Katherine’s bag is stolen when she was distracted with Owen and all the material she had written went with it), separates the two. By the way, who takes their most important document without a backup for a walk by the sea? These forced decisions in the script cause drama and the expectation of whether they will stay together weighs on people who complain about the result. But it is totally acceptable, there are less justified things even in Nobody Wants This and no one criticizes it.

The film is written and directed by Susannah Grant, who was the showrunner for Party of Five and wrote the scripts for films such as 28 Days and Erin Brockovich. Lonely Planet is not on the same level, no one denies that, but it is a mature and calm romance, even if the spark is caused, as they argue, by the unexpected. Among so many obvious ones on all platforms, this is by far the most enjoyable.

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