Watching a good rom-com should be like “finding hope in a big mess.” In “Lonely Planet,” Netflix’s latest romance, thirtysomething Owen Brophy (Liam Hemsworth) believes the same sentiment applies to his Moroccan rendezvous with fiftysomething Elizabeth Lowe (Laura Dern). Within this paradigm, romance is supposed to be the antidote to the complicated realities of life; But just like love, the fantasy of what could be often doesn’t match reality as it is.

The reality is that rom-coms these days are often more messy than hopeful. And they’re not the endearing kind of mess that makes a lead love interest more relatable or a destined relationship feel more attainable.

Instead, the genre is mixed with low-budget, guaranteed cable clichés (Hallmark’s new slate of holiday movies airs this week) and overproduced, higher-budget stories that just aren’t that good. Some of this year’s biggest rom-coms in the latter category also featured an age gap, such as Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine in their disappointing 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 film stands out as the best of the recent age-gap romances on streaming because it inspires more hope than trash (even if it’s definitely still a bit trashy ).

Written and directed by Susannah Grant, the film is set during an international writers’ retreat outside Marrakech in a beautiful hotel with picturesque patios overlooking the Atlas Mountains. Elizabeth, a bestselling novelist in an undefined genre, arrives for the post-breakup retreat and on deadline. Owen, a financial brother, 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 sure why he agreed to go. He doesn’t like to travel. “People always say it’s going to be a 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 complains to Elizabeth during one of their first interactions against the blue-painted walls of Chefchaouen.

“That’s true,” Elizabeth says with an air of writerly wisdom before quoting the French novelist Gustave Flaubert, who said, “The purpose of travel was to make us modest.”

There’s not a lot of modesty about ‘Lonely Planet’. Like ‘The Idea of ​​You’ and ‘A Perfect Marriage’, it is set in an inaccessible world of privilege. The characters are not boy band members or movie stars, but they are successful, celebrated writers who are treated to an exclusive and luxurious, all-expenses paid vacation in North Africa.

However, unlike the films that are set in a heightened reality of fame and focus on the intersectionality of motherhood and sexuality and parenthood and independence, “Lonely Planet” stands apart from these topics entirely. Elizabeth – as far as the viewer knows – has no children, and the film doesn’t even directly address the age difference between the two characters, even though the two and a half decades that separate them are probably the biggest. gap of the three.

The result is that, unlike the escapist vacation the film portrays, this one somehow feels more real than its counterparts. Although very few details are revealed about Owen or Elizabeth’s lives, the conversations they have as they get to know each other fuel their muted crush in a realistic way. Their banter—sometimes forced, sometimes clumsy, sometimes clever—is imperfect in a way that feels likely, as are their edited self-descriptions of the messy parts of their lives. Elizabeth’s ex-partner said she was not a loving person worth sharing a life with, and Owen unhappily works in the financial world making deals for bosses who are not trustworthy.

Like two people meeting for the first time, Owen and Elizabeth decide what and how much of themselves they want to reveal. With each unexpected encounter, exchange of words, and shared sympathetic gaze, their relationship evolves from new acquaintances to casual friends to allies among a literary crowd they would rather not belong to. Furthermore, given the age difference and the presence of Owen’s girlfriend, a romantic relationship is not inevitable or even likely.

Their relationship can simply be defined as unexpected friends. Although they support each other as they journey together, they don’t have the chemical propulsion that requires them to become lovers. So when Owen and Lily’s relationship predictably breaks down because she grows out of it and he doesn’t know who she is anymore, it’s not because of Elizabeth. But their divorce opens the door for her, even if it’s not a door she has to step through.

But I’m glad she does. Dern and Hemsworth have an unexpectedly intriguing chemistry, and it was fun to see them leave the confines of the retreat to explore Morocco. The beautiful and curated settings of an area that appears less often on screen provide the viewer with a nice escape.

It’s also refreshing to see an age gap love story where the older partner looks significantly older. While Dern is characteristically chic and stunning in her role, she is also visibly older than Hemsworth’s character, even though this difference and what it means for a shared future is never discussed.

While their avoidance of the reality that awaits them at home is believable as they get to know each other as strangers gathering for a glorified vacation, the lack of information they share after they begin their rendezvous in Morocco is less believable, leaving greater plot holes come to light. and a lack of character development that weigh down the last quarter of the film. Are they two characters sharing a life-changing, short-lived romance, or are they two characters moving toward a shared future? The answer is unclear.

These flaws are most pronounced in the film’s climax and resolution, which I won’t spoil, but they are disappointing, and the film’s ending feels inconsistent as a result.

However, despite these weaknesses, I still enjoyed watching “Lonely Planet” more than the age gap films that came before it. While it’s not a new addition to the rom-com genre, it’s not a total mess, and that alone makes it stand out among the sad state of the rom-com genre today. You could even argue that there’s enough that feels different to raise hope for a future of better rom-coms, at least better ones with an age gap.