'Lonely Planet' review: Laura Dern, Liam Hemsworth star in subtle, thoughtful romantic drama

WHAT IT'S ABOUT Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth fall in love in "Lonely Planet," a romance set against the backdrop of a writers' retreat in Morocco.

Dern plays the famous author Katherine Loewe, suffering from a debilitating case of writer's block and staring at a personal crossroads with the end of a long relationship with a person generally referred to as "the sculptor."

Hemsworth's Owen Brophy isn't an author at all, but tagging along on the trip because he's the boyfriend of the up-and-comer Lily Kemp (Diana Silvers).

That relationship, too, is shown to be on the rocks, as Owen, a finance guy and former jock, can't keep up with highfalutin literature discussions and, gasp, doesn't even read fiction.

The writer-director, Susannah Grant, is known for the Netflix miniseries "Unbelievable," among other projects.

MY SAY The challenge in any movie like this begins with making it into more than just a travelogue, with the story serving as a thin excuse to showcase beautiful settings, and the actors seeming to sign on as much for the chance to work in such a place as for anything offered by the script.

"Lonely Planet" largely passes this litmus test, even as it sometimes seems more entranced with the desert vistas, sprawling beaches and luxurious resort housing the writers than with anything happening internally.

There's another hurdle that the picture smartly and thankfully avoids.

A lot of the headlines around "Lonely Planet" have focused on the fact that it's an age-gap romance, at least the third major one with A-listers to appear on streaming services this year after "A Family Affair" and "The Idea of You." 

What this mini-trend says in a broader cultural sense is best left to others. But while the picture certainly acknowledges the age difference between its leads, as it must, it refuses to perseverate on it. 

Whenever the movie wanders too far in either direction, the stars have a keen sense of how to pull the focus back toward the characters.

Dern is a consistent expert at seeming completely natural and comfortable on camera. Here, she plays up the desperation and confusion that's led Katherine to this place at this particular crossroads in her life, and builds a relationship with Hemsworth's Owen that's tangibly about more than just a physical attraction.

Hemsworth stands as something of a revelation, too, finally getting a part that allows for him to just focus on acting without the distraction of big-budget pyrotechnics ("The Hunger Games" series) or basic genre conventions.

He taps into the particular strain of loneliness that tends to manifest itself in unfamiliar places, when the routines that define everyday life become stripped away and there's finally time to contemplate exactly where you are and how you got there.

BOTTOM LINE It's more subtle and thoughtful than one might expect, and the actors bring it home.