People We Meet on Vacation (2026)
Directed by: Brett Haley
Premise: Based on the novel by Emily Henry. Platonic friends Poppy and Alex (Emily Bader and Tom Blyth) take annual vacations together. Although each of them wants very different things from life, Poppy and Alex have an undeniable attraction.
What Works: People We Meet on Vacation is a romance and it works largely because of the relationship between the central characters. Poppy and Alex are played by Emily Bader and Tom Blyth and the two of them are an enjoyable and watchable couple. Poppy is the life of the party and a perpetual traveler while Alex is a staid planner. The performances by Bader and Blyth visualize that tension. She is very animated and he is very still. Bader and Blyth have an easy and likable romantic chemistry and they make us want to see the characters get together. The narrative is structured effectively. The beginning and ending of the film are set in the present day but the middle of People We Meet on Vacation flashes backward, showing us each of Poppy and Alex’s trips and dramatizing the trajectory of their relationship. The story structure allows the filmmakers to cover a lot of time very efficiently. The different locations change up the look of the movie and the costuming and makeup subtly but convincingly age the characters from their collage days into their early thirties. The filmmakers use color well and there are a few scenes with stylized lighting.
What Doesn’t: People We Meet on Vacation fulfills all the clichés of the romantic comedy genre. From the meet cute opening to the passionate kiss in the rain to the running-for-love finale, the filmmakers shamelessly check every genre box. The familiarity is part of what audiences come to see in a movie like this but there’s not much about People We Meet on Vacation that is surprising. It’s obvious very quickly that Poppy and Alex are going to fall in love and we wait for them to come to that conclusion without much suspense. Even the twists in the story are expected. Alex has a longtime on-again-off-again girlfriend (Sarah Catherine Hook) but she’s absent from much of the story; it’s as though she’s just a concoction to keep Poppy and Alex from getting together. The resolution of People We Meet on Vacation raises questions that the filmmakers clearly don’t care about or haven’t thought through. Alex wants to remain rooted in his hometown of Linfield, Ohio but Poppy wants to travel the world. They have an irreconcilable difference and the filmmakers just paper over it in the end and hope we won’t notice.
Disc extras: Available on Netflix.
Bottom Line: People We Meet on Vacation ought to satisfy its intended audience. It’s very predictable and ultimately superficial but the movie is also very likable and has two appealing lead actors.
Episode: #1085 (February 1, 2026)