People We Meet On Vacation is an adaptation of Emily Henry’s bestselling novel of the same title (published in the UK as You and Me on Vacation). This marks the first of Henry’s many romance novels to be adapted for film or television. To date, Henry has sold film and TV rights to five of her books. Deadline recently reported that Happy Place, originally intended as a Netflix film, is now being developed into a Netflix series. While People We Meet on Vacation is not necessarily the strongest or most popular title of Henry’s catalogue, it has become the first adaptation to officially release.
The Growing Demand for Book-to-Screen Romance
There is a proven and ongoing growing market for book-to-film and book-to-TV adaptations with a largely female following. This was shown recently through Regretting You’s solid theatrical run, The Housemaid’s box office success, and Heated Rivalry surging into cultural relevance. With Verity set to release this autumn and already generating anticipation due to the popularity of the bestselling book, there is a present demand for young adult thrillers and romance stories.
Told through a dual timeline, the film follows Poppy Wright (Emily Bader) and Alex Nilsen (Tom Blyth) as they meet at university, 9 years earlier. While their friendship starts off awkwardly, they quickly grow to become the best of friends and make an agreement to spend one week together, every year, on a vacation – wherever that is in the world. The film takes us through their various vacations, but we soon find out that Poppy and Alex have not spoken to each other in 2 years. After 2 years of no communication, they find themselves in the same city abroad. Will they be able to repair what fractured their relationship?
Tom Blyth has had a notable last couple of years and can next be seen in Lionsgate’s Wasteman in February. Tom Blyth’s Alex Nilsen is charming, but Emily Bader’s performance of Poppy stands out, wonderfully portraying her bubbly, fun, and free-spirited nature. Poppy is a wild and outgoing character who is very happy to go with the flow, and Emily Bader conveys these traits perfectly. Unfortunately, the ensemble cast is either not featured enough, or they feel quite empty. Perhaps both.
While the chemistry between Poppy and Alex is present throughout the film, with a few great moments of romantic tension, the characters individually fall quite flat, particularly Alex. The novel is told through Poppy’s point of view, and so there is more material for her to be worked with, but the film sells the character of Alex very short, reducing him to a very one-dimensional love interest. The relationship feels overly simple with a very sweet but unremarkable love confession. Both of the performances work best in their lighter, upbeat moments, rather than its dramatic moments. Which is not the end of the world for a romantic comedy.
Where the Film Falls Short
There is not nearly enough time spent in the present timeline, as we constantly switch back to the past before any emotional substance is allowed to develop. It is in the present timeline where the majority of the dramatic moments occur. While the vacation sequences are incredibly enjoyable and pleasant, they, too, in a way feel quite rushed, as though we are skimming through highlights rather than living in the moments.
Poppy and Alex are very much opposites who bounce off each other well, but what is it about Alex that Poppy loves so much? The film fails to really answer this question for the audience. This strongly indicates to a suggestion that a television series would have served as the better medium for this story, allowing for more time to explore both timelines and develop the depth of the characters. A greater focus on the present timeline would have allowed the emotional weight of the classic ‘third-act conflict/break-up in rom-coms’, to land more effectively.
Visually, the film is bright, colourful, and everything you’d want in a fun, summer romcom. It is not only inviting, but the cinematography complements the outfits of our main characters, Poppy and Alex – emphasising the summery spirit and warm tone of the film.
Book adaptations are notoriously difficult to tackle, particularly when the source is so beloved, as you simply cannot please every fan, but a personal key measure of success is not only how well the original source material is used and adapted, but also, how well you can engage an audience that is unfamiliar with the original source material into your film?
‘People We Meet On Vacation’ – Final Thoughts
Ultimately, Brett Hayley’s People We Meet on Vacation is not a great adaptation, and even as a standalone, it remains a very surface-level, straightforward romantic comedy. That being said, it may still find an audience who is flicking through Netflix looking for an easy, comfortable, under 120-minute romcom for a cosy evening at home. A serviceable romantic comedy with likeable main characters to take the ride with, but unfortunately not great.
People We Meet On Vacation is now streaming on Netflix. Check out a trailer below:
