Janet Planet begins with its 11-year-old heroine, Lacy (bright young newcomer Zoe Ziegler), threatening to kill herself if her mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson, who also plays Marilyn Monroe’s mom in Blonde and Weird Al’s mom in Weird: The Al Yankovic Story), doesn’t come and pick her up from the summer camp at which she is staying.
And that’s probably the most interesting thing that happens in the movie.
The rest of Janet Planet shows how the remainder of Lacy’s summer goes, specifically revolving around three different people who come in and out of her mother’s life.
There’s Janet’s oddball boyfriend, Wayne (Will Patton from the new Halloween movies).
Then there’s her free-spirited old friend, Regina (Death on the Nile’s Sophie Okonedo).
And finally, there’s the mysterious stranger Avi (The Thin Red Line’s Elias Koteas).
So, clearly, there is a revolving door of friends and lovers that come and go in Janet’s life, and Lacy is a reluctant witness to all of it.
Janet Planet was written and directed by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Annie Baker (The Flick), which makes sense, because it is presented much like a stage play. The vibe of the movie is very lo-fi, with the story unfolding in long takes and single shots with very little editing and hardly any music. This lets the actors really breathe and spread their wings.
Which is good, because Janet Planet is completely character-driven. To a fault. The characters that are created and developed by the cast are just interesting enough for the viewer to want something to happen to them. But unfortunately, nothing ever does. Janet Planet is a lot of people hanging out and talking about their feelings without ever doing very much.
The brightest spot in the movie is Zoe Ziegler’s portrayal of Lacy. While the movie is ostensibly about Janet and her relationships with the other adults in her life, the most compelling relationship is the one between Janet and her daughter, and Lacy gets all of the focus. Lacy is a sad and introverted girl, escaping into a fantasy world of toys and nicknacks whenever she can, and Ziegler conveys her loneliness, confusion, and frustration perfectly.
All of this character-building gives Janet Planet a glacial pacing. These people are beautifully painted, well-developed pieces of art, just begging for something to do, and Baker never really supplies that. It’s basically a slice-of-life movie, only the slices aren’t all that entertaining. The character development is wasted by the lack of plot. The most compelling segments of the movie are when Lacy is by herself either practicing piano or toying with her collection of porcelain figurines, and that’s because Zoe Ziegler is such a unique and commanding presence, not because she’s doing anything particularly engaging.
Janet Planet tries its hardest to be a sweet little coming-of-age movie. And it succeeds somewhat, mainly because Lacy growing up is the most watchable aspect of the film. All in all, it’s fine. The characters are fine. The ensemble is fine. The production is fine. It’s just fine.
GRADE: C
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language, thematic elements, and some drug use
Running Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Release Date: June 28, 2024
Studio: A24
