REVIEW: ‘People We Meet On Vacation’ Is A Beauty

Based on the Emily Henry book of the same name, People We Meet on Vacation is a perfect balm for a chilly winter. From director Brett Haley, the Netflix Original romance follows Poppy (Emily Bader) as she reflects on almost a decade of jetsetting for a living and the once-a-year vacations she took with her best friend Alex (Tom Blyth), just before his brother’s wedding in Barcelona.

It couldn’t be any more obvious that the two fell in love the first time they met, but for years, they’ve skirted around it, vacationing together always, but never sharing how they feel. People We Meet on Vacation is told through alternating scenes in the present and flashbacks to vacations of summers past. As the present-day story progresses, the flashbacks slowly reveal how Poppy and Alex came to stop talking to each other for so many years, despite how close they once were.

The first thing that’s impossible to miss is just how beautiful People We Meet on Vacation is. Not every scene is shot on location, with some clear and sometimes jarring CGI or green screens standing in for otherwise gorgeous locales. Whether on a beach, in the woods, or just in a European apartment or villa, the settings are as beautiful as the movie’s stunning actors.

Everything in People We Meet On Vacation is gorgeous, especially the costumes.

The costumes are also sensational. Every single outfit that Poppy wears, in particular, is outstanding. The movie deserves a ‘steal that look’ guide. The dress she wears in the penultimate scene, especially, is unmatched. It’s a work of art in its design and construction as well as its appearance and metatextual significance. The dresses, bathing suits, and otherwise make People We Meet on Vacation worth watching all on its own.

Fortunately, the movie itself is also quite good. Poppy and Alex are a little annoying at first. They’re college students when they first meet, and they are both a lot. Initially, they’re extreme versions of their worst qualities. Poppy is overbearingly talkative, clutzy, and airheaded. She doesn’t come off with nearly the charm or poise that she quickly develops over subsequent vacations.

Alex, on the other hand, is hardheaded and a little rude when he first meets Poppy. You could almost believe them when they swear they could never be together at this early point in their relationship. At least Alex shows signs of self-awareness and compassion. Beneath the grumbling, he’s a sweety.

People We Meet on Vacation turns romance tropes just enough on their sides.

Before the difficult personalities in the first vacation scene, the movie opens in the present with a strange jump scare and Poppy’s girlboss-personified supervisor (Jameela Jamil). Neither scene fits in with the feel of the whole rest of the movie, so it’s a startling and unfortunate way to begin People We Meet on Vacation. Thankfully, though, after these first two segments, things get off and running, and they don’t stop until the bitter end.

The movie is as structurally familiar as a romance can be, and yet, the final act leaves you wondering how things are actually going to turn out. To feel suspenseful in an age of slop is a feat. It feels equally plausible that things will or will not work out for Alex and Poppy as the present-day plot slowly unfolds.

Even the typically aggravating romance trope where a simple miscommunication tanks their relationship for a period comes and goes with minimal aggravation. This is helped by the fact that, whenever another major romance trope comes to the fore, it never actually plays out in any of the flashbacks. So by the time you get to the one that does, you’re mostly steeled against it already.

The side characters never overstay their welcome but make every vacation that much more memorable.

Poppy and Alex are a great couple to root for. They have just enough personality on their own that you can attach to them, but they’re not overly drawn out, so you can imprint your own feelings onto them with ease. The people they meet on their vacations are all fun to hang out with, especially Buck (Lukas Gage), but like most people you meet on vacation, they’re fleeting in the story, and never overstay their welcome.

In fact, Alex’s brother, whose wedding is at the center of the present-day plot, is practically non-germane to it. You spend little time with him and know very little about his inner life, which is perfect. If there were too much time spent elaborating on the many side characters in Poppy and Alex’s lives, the experience would become too weighty, and the catharsis of their rendezvous would lose some gravity.

People We Meet on Vacation is a great rendition of a tried-and-true formula. With beautiful aesthetics, solid characters, and plenty of yearning to go around, the tropes are offset just enough to keep you on your toes about Poppy and Alex’s fate all the way until the end.

People We Meet on Vacation is streaming exclusively on Netflix January 9th.