Looking at the structure and conflict of “People We Meet on Vacation,” it’s easy to see why Emily Henry’s romance became a bestseller. It’s got a neat hook, steadily increasing romantic friction through endearing episodic moments, and a useful gender inversion that makes the leads feel fresh and distinct.
And yet, Brett Haley’s adaptation struggles to capture the ineffable spark that’s required for any compelling romance. Netflix’s new “People We Meet on Vacation” movie has the shape of a comforting romance, but leads Emily Bader and Tom Blyth always feel like they’re going through the motions of intimacy rather than making us buy them as friends who are falling for each other. For a movie that should provide the comfort of the romance genre, “People We Meet on Vacation” usually tops out at being blandly pleasant.
Poppy (Bader) has her dream job as a travel journalist, but her writing has lost its passion, and she focuses more on the crushing loneliness of solo vacations, much to the chagrin of her editor (Jameela Jamil). When Poppy gets invited to a wedding in Barcelona, she has reservations because she knows her friend Alex (Tom Blyth) will be there. The movie then starts jumping back and forth between the present awkwardness between Poppy and Alex and the history of their relationship dating back to a fateful carpool home during their college days. The extroverted and carefree Poppy at first irritates the uptight and formal Alex, but the two eventually warm up to each other. The duo agree to become their annual vacation buddies, and she provides him with the adventure he needs while he unintentionally demonstrates the consistency and support she desires.
Haley doesn’t bother to hide the story’s influences, especially Poppy and Alex’s initial road trip, which calls to mind the opening scenes of “When Harry Met Sally” except here it’s the woman who’s abrasive and overly confident and the man who is more reserved and uptight. That’s a nice little gender flip that works well throughout the story as the characters’ tendencies would be a little too well-worn in a typical romance, and it’s welcome to see these traits embodied outside the genre’s norms.
But if you’re going to call on a classic like “When Harry Met Sally,” you need to have the goods. Sadly, Bader and Blyth can only come off like distant echoes of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal.
It’s not that either performer here is “bad,” as much as their characters still feel indistinct and shapeless. They’re romance avatars and the gender swap still doesn’t provide enough texture here beyond “introvert” and “extrovert.” It’s fine that the story puts them in fun situations and doesn’t overplay the underlying romantic tension in their friendship, but ultimately, there’s nothing too memorable about Poppy or Alex.
The film’s structure highlights their vacations, but we’re left to wonder what their lives look like outside these scenes. Exposition tells us they stay in touch and are dating other people, but is this a long-distance relationship? Are they only in each other’s presence on these vacations? Is their growing intimacy only a product of heightened vacation escapades?
The movie leaves all of this painfully vague, and while I don’t need the script to fill in every blank, it speaks to the larger imprecision in the storytelling and characterizations. Poppy and Alex become two-dimensional figures plugged into wacky scenarios or intimate confessions, but there’s little between the two to generate the passion we expect. It’s like having all the ingredients for a delicious baked good, but there’s not enough heat to make it rise.
At some point, we need to root for these characters to get together, and “People We Meet on Vacation” never comes close to such moments. Even the friendship between Poppy and Alex lacks a shape, never feeling like a special bond as much as one where people around them marvel that these two attractive young people aren’t hooking up.
There’s never a good answer for why two actors can’t find chemistry. You can do all the screen tests in the world or find that the performers are clicking off camera or that they’re perfect at channeling the characters on the page. But “People We Meet on Vacation” highlights that the best romances are the ones that never seem to strain for emotional connection. Here, every vacation scene, whether it’s Poppy and Alex dancing in New Orleans or falling into shenanigans in the wilderness, only highlights that nothing deeper is happening between these people. As much as the film strives to set the surrounding mood, there’s no solution for when the romance in a romance movie fizzles.
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