One of the top summer themed books came to life this past weekend. “People We Meet on Vacation” is a romantic comedy that brings author Emily Henry’s best selling book to Netflix’s long list. Directed by Brett Haley, the movie follows Poppy Wright (Emily Bader), a New York City based travel writer who grows unhappy with her life. When Poppy learns from her friend David about his upcoming wedding in Barcelona, she sees it as a chance to reconnect with David’s brother, Alex Nilsen (Tom Blyth), her former best friend, to whom she hasn’t spoken in two years.
After reading the book myself, I was really excited when I found out that a movie would be coming out. The book was a funny rom-com about two best friends who are clearly in love with each other, but it takes decades of visiting different travel spots for them to finally realize their feelings are mutual. The movie takes us through the different time jumps, seeing Poppy and Alex meet nine years prior, and then to present time during the wedding weekend. Throughout the time jumps we see different summers filled with travel, where we see the love interests seemingly grow closer than friends, but back off due to one of the two already having a partner.
While “People We Meet on Vacation” thrives on the friends to lovers aspect, the movie’s short runtime of 1 hour and 49 minutes causes some beloved scenes from the book to be cut from the movie, showing less of the couple going on a ton more vacations and actually growing to like each other as more than friends.
Some of the scenes not shown really makes the audience wonder how the two even got close to begin with, just having them all of the sudden start going on vacations every summer together. It was a disappointing change, as it changes the whole plot of Alex being this reserved character and Poppy learning to gain his trust and understand his reasoning on why he is so closed off.
Ignoring the book and watching this movie as a standalone, though, it was a great romance movie. The acting from Bader and Blyth really show a great representation of a friends to lovers trope, where they acted like they wanted each other but knowing they can’t have each other because of their life value differences. The two did great bringing Poppy and Alex to life.
Ultimately, “People We Meet on Vacation” is an enjoyable romantic movie that will satisfy the fans of the book and appeal to people who just enjoy a funny rom-com. The performances from Bader and Blyth make it a great watch. For people looking for a cute, romantic movie night, “People We Meet on Vacation” is just for you.
