'Janet Planet' doesn't achieve lift-off with any real purpose, emotion or storyline

On the surface, “Janet Planet” sounds like a charming story about a single mother seen through the eyes of her 11-year-old daughter.

Lacy (Zoe Ziegler), is a lone wolf — or at least she sees herself as one. She manages to fake a family crisis in order to leave summer camp. Is camp all that bad? Is Lacy bullied? Or does she just want to go home? It’s a little hard to say at first.

But her cleverness matched with her dry demeanor makes her seem like one of those kids who’s older than they look. But it turns out, we get very little time to understand Lacy.

What is 'Janet Planet' about?

Instead, the focus shifts to Lacy’s mother Janet (Julianne Nicholson). This would be fine but it feels like Lacy becomes less of an important character in the overall story. She is just another object orbiting Janet’s life.

The formula of seeing one’s parent through a child’s eyes becomes a nice idea that evaporates with the summer heat. Lonely Lacy becomes an accessory to Janet’s lonely life. This in spite of the fact that three different relationships are presented to Janet — none of which are Lacy.

“Janet Planet” ends up being something other than advertised:

“In rural Western Massachusetts, 11-year-old Lacy spends the summer of 1991 at home, enthralled by her own imagination and the attention of her mother, Janet. As the months pass, three visitors enter their orbit, all captivated by Janet.”

One might expect child-like whimsy and innocence throughout the plot. And you’d definitely think Lacy is the star of the movie. But director Annie Baker sets everything off-kilter as the story oscillates between Janet’s struggles with relationships and her wishy-washy attitude towards, well, everything.

Janet is flawed. And that’s fine. She’s not endearing, so seeing how she attracts all these odd people is bemusing. She seems to notice Lacy only as an afterthought. And this is probably why Lacy is attached to her mother. She is clinging to any drop of recognition as she teeters on the edge of neglect.

The people who fly in and out of their lives all compete with Lacy for Janet's attention. But again, the direction seems to leave Lacy as an afterthought, much like her mother.

'Janet Planet' is director Annie Baker's debut feature

Perhaps it’s intentional. But it ends up feeling like it’s directed by an amateur. And in a sense, it is. “Janet Planet” is Baker’s debut film as a director. She was a writer on the show “I Love Dick” in 2017. She has a smattering of acting credits. Other than that she has no other recent film or TV credits. But she has a background in theater. So perhaps she was busy on stage?

Ultimately, the movie is really boring. Any charm or spark it might have had is quashed by a lack of strong direction and writing.

Janet as a character is not appealing to watch — for good or bad. She just is. And sure that’s fine, I suppose. But I can think of many other movies I’d rather spend nearly two hours of my life on.

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'Janet Planet' 2 stars

Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★

Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★

Director: Annie Baker.

Cast: Julianne Nicholson, Zoe Ziegler.

Rating: PG-13 for brief strong language, some drug use and thematic elements.

How to watch: In theaters Friday, June 28.

Contact Kaely Monahan at k[email protected]. Follow her on our podcasts Valley 101 and The Gaggle, and X, formerly known as Twitter, @KaelyMonahan.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 'Janet Planet' review: Director Annie Baker's film is a waste of time