REVIEW: “People We Meet On Vacation”
Courtesy of Netflix
Some movies fail because they’re simply bad. Others fail because the filmmakers never understood what made the story worth telling in the first place. People We Meet On Vacation lands squarely in that second category. Adapted from Emily Henry’s bestselling novel, the movie seems to have all the makings of a ready-made hit, but somehow it manages to fumble things and winds up feeling hollow from start to finish. A quick disclaimer: I haven’t read the book, so I can’t say whether the movie’s problems stem from the source material or from the trio of credited screenwriters taking too many creative liberties. Either way, the version of this story that made it to the screen feels misjudged in nearly every way. If the novel offered any warmth and emotional depth, this adaptation strips it all away.
The overall setup is classic rom-com stuff. Free-spirited Poppy Wright (Emily Bader) and tightly wound Alex Nilsen (Tom Blyth) first meet on a shared ride home from college. Along the way, a series of mishaps sparks an unlikely friendship, one they decide to maintain through big annual vacations together every summer, regardless of whatever complications life throws at them. The film, however, opens long after their friendship has unraveled. Poppy and Alex are barely on speaking terms until they’re awkwardly reunited at Alex’s brother’s wedding in Spain. From there, the movie jumps back and forth in time, cutting between their strained reunion and earlier vacations. These glimpses are meant to reveal how their bond deepened, and why it ultimately fractured. But instead, the constant time-jumping is more disorienting than revealing. Just as a scene begins to settle into something emotionally meaningful, we’re yanked away to another year, another country, and the same unresolved tension in a new setting.
To be fair, those settings are undeniably great: lush coastlines, charming streets, carefully framed sunsets. But none of it feels real. There’s little sense of the local culture or its people; they should be meeting on vacation, just Poppy and Alex wandering through pretty scenery. Travel here isn’t an experience; it’s wallpaper. That same emptiness extends to the leads themselves. Neither character is remotely interesting, and the chemistry between them is essentially non-existent. Bader and Blyth are both capable actors individually, but the movie asks them to sell a deep, years-long connection that their performances simply can’t support. There’s no spark, no tension. Not even the sense that these two genuinely enjoy each other’s company. The movie insists they’re destined soulmates; the performances suggest they’d struggle to get through a quick coffee without constantly checking their phones.
And without believable chemistry, a romantic comedy is basically dead on arrival. Audiences need to feel that pull, that sense of inevitability drawing the two main characters together. Without it, the entire proposition collapses. Making matters worse, Poppy herself is hard to root for. She’s not mean or unpleasant, but her relentless impulsiveness, which the movie mistakes for charming spontaneity, quickly becomes grating. The story asks for endless patience from Alex and, by extension, the audience. Instead of rooting for these two to work things out, you’re made to wonder why he keeps signing up for such an emotional rollercoaster with this girl.
The movie’s pacing also doesn’t do it any favors. Scenes that should feel light and charming drag along at a snail’s pace, turning the movie into a slog. This is especially surprising given director Brett Haley’s track record of making warm, keenly observed, character-driven movies. Here, he seems to be phoning it in with a kind of easy detachment, as if he’s not sold on the romance himself but showed up anyway.
Here’s the thing: none of this makes People We Meet On Vacation a complete disaster. It’s just something comparatively worse: aggressively disappointing. Its biggest flaw is how little it makes you feel. What should have been a fun, memory-soaked romantic romp instead feels like flipping through someone else’s vacation photos, pleasant enough for a moment, but increasingly difficult to sit through. By the time the credits roll, the clearest takeaway is that this isn’t just an easily forgettable trip, but one best skipped altogether.
People We Meet On Vacation is currently available to stream on Netflix.