REVIEW: Netflix charms with “People we Meet on Vacation”

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Based on the book by Emily Henry, the Netflix movie People we Meet on Vacation tells the story of two strangers who go on vacation together for nearly a decade. The film focuses on two characters who start out hating each other but grow together as their lives change. Although the story hits some obvious beats, it also offers a fresh entry into the genre with strong performances by it two leads.

Early on, Poppy (Emily Bader) is a writer who vacations for a living. Her job is to travel around the world and write about her adventures. After receiving a phone call from her former friend’s brother, she travels to Barcelona to attend a wedding. That wedding brings her back to Alex (Tom Blyth), Poppy’s former travelling companion who she hasn’t spoken to in two years.

As the story progresses, a myriad of flashbacks show how Poppy and Alex started out as bickering road trip buddies but eventually became genuine friends. When the duo attended college together, they took a road trip home and struck up a relationship that led them to annual vacations together.

The road trip scenes set up a formulaic dynamic between the duo. Poppy is messy and longs to travel abroad while Alex is more cautious and loves his hometown. That set-up feels tired but quickly becomes something more as the plot soon moves beyond their opening animosity. During the duo’s second trip, their relationship builds into something more genuine and relatable as Tom becomes more adventurous during their travels.   

The script by Yulin Kuang, Amos Vernon, Nunzio Randazzo really develops the relationship nicely from one trip to the other. Although the flashbacks and flashforwards (to the present day) can be confusing, the shape of the timeline nicely shows the budding relationship between the leads. After the more traditional first meeting between the two, latter scenes better develop the trust and connection the two feel.

The relationship relies on the script and the actors inhabiting the characters. Both serve the story well here. There are several wonderful sequences here showing the relationship budding. From a scene showing a shared romper to a scene depicting Alex surprising Poppy when she’s sick to a memorable dance scene, the feature does a wonderful job highlighting two leads and showing why they remain connected to one another.  

Blyth, who was so memorable in The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, really shows a different and more charming side of himself here. Although her character can be grating in the early scenes, Bader also excels here as Poppy grows into the person she was meant to be.

In the past few years, there’s been a dearth of charming romantic comedies that stand out. People we Meet on Vacation shows that the formula still works wonders when it’s done well.