Cameron Smith’s documentary, The Loneliest Boy on Earth, served as a warning to me personally. The warning was, “This could have been you.” It appeared that after two and a half long decades, I could have been the perpetually single man, never finding the love and companionship of another. Cameron was not so lucky…but why?
The Loneliest Boy on Earth opens with a lengthy video essay from Cameron about how we got to this point, where he’s making a doc about why he’s been unable to find romantic love. The essay goes on for some time and covers his life as a teen with boundless, dare I say, manic energy. His problem with relationships was that the girls who would date him were not his type, and the girls he wanted to date were out of his league.
In the essay, he delves deeply into his frame of mind. Growing up, Cameron was a weird kid…daring and unpredictable. I’ll never get the image of a wind-up Tigger doll humping a Barbie doll out of my mind. Growing up, Cameron channeled his creative energy into writing music, doing stand-up comedy, and making movies. His art was an expression of his creativity and his struggles.
Cameron’s problem with relationships was that he was perpetually a boy who needed to become an adult. His frustration with being lonely is the impetus for this documentary. After becoming an avid fan of Jordan Peterson, Cameron began to reflect on his loneliness and depression seriously. Strangely enough, the answer for Cameron was to turn the camera on himself and create a reality dating show of his own to find the “one.”
“His frustration with being lonely is the impetus for this documentary.”
If you’re a fan of human behavior, The Loneliest Boy on Earth is a documentary you must see. What’s fascinating to me is to see a man who’s come to a point in his life where things need to radically change and then document every step along the way. What makes Cameron different is that he dedicates his energy to finding the truth about himself…like the real truth. He not only lays out his faults and shortcomings, but then allows his friends, acquaintances, and girls he creeped out to speak openly and honestly about himself. There’s a level of self-awareness that Cameron brings that is refreshing and scary at the same time.
I should also speak to the cringe factor of the film. As mentioned before, Cameron opens himself up for friends to be brutally honest in their perception of him. You know that feeling you get when someone close says, “We need to talk,” and then just opens the floodgates. That happens a lot.
The worst cringe comes as Cameron attempts to start relationships with several women, who in return were never interested in him…not even in the slightest. We then witness his truly desperate attempts to impress women, confess his love for them (after the first date), and eventually walk out or ghost them. The worst part is that as I’m watching this happen, I couldn’t help but scream out, “For the love of God…DON’T!!!!” Then he does.
The Loneliest Boy on Earth has a few things going against it. It’s two hours and forty minutes, which is way too long, and like his texts to girls, Cameron has a lot to say and he’ll say it. Yet, with all his faults, Cameron Smith is a thoughtful and reflective person. On these long rants, Cameron is at least not rambling. He has something to say, and each and every word is not haphazardly put together. He’s insightful and not dull.
If you want my armchair therapist’s opinion, deep down I think he’s looking for a woman to love him, faults and all, but not knowing how to be the man women would want to love. That said, The Loneliest Boy on Earth is a story of self-discovery and the search for love. Whether Smith succeeds in the end or not, his willingness to bare his soul makes the journey worth witnessing.
For screening information, visit The Loneliest Boy on Earth official website.
"…his willingness to bare his soul makes the journey worth witnessing."
