Netflix's 'People We Meet On Vacation' Is A Huge Letdown
HuffPost
Emily Henry's novel gets the Netflix treatment with Emily Bader and Tom Blyth.
Who is “vacation you”? You know, that version of yourself that gets to exist for the briefest of periods each year as you sink your toes into the sand or wander the streets of a new city, invigorated with the freedom that comes from escaping emails and laundry and carpools.
If you’re anything like me, wherever you are, “vacation you” has a frothy book in hand. And, since Emily Henry’s aptly titled “Beach Read” was published in 2020 and catapulted her to instant bestselling author, there’s a good chance that it’s one of her summer-release romcoms.
Henry has released a book a year since 2020, but “People We Meet on Vacation” is the first to be adapted into a movie. (There are four more on the way: “Beach Read,” “Book Lovers,” “Funny Story” and “Happy Place”). Like the book, the movie, now streaming on Netflix, is a classic friends-to-lovers tale. Free-spirited Poppy (Emily Bader) and strait-laced Alex (Tom Blyth) have been best friends since college, and their slow-burn romance unfolds on annual summer trips between their early 20s and early 30s when they escape their real lives and become their vacation selves.
While the movie largely parallels the book’s plot, it is simpler in scope and relies too much on its structure. Instead of building upon the spot-on casting of Bader and Blyth to develop Henry’s characters, the film assumes an attachment to them that is unearned. The result is that while fans of the book will probably like the movie, and Bader makes a perfect Poppy and Blyth an admirable Alex, the film on its own is a letdown, and Poppy and Alex’s happy ending is unsatisfying.
The movie and book both begin in the present day. An unknown incident has created a rift between Poppy, whose wanderlust has led her to a career as a travel writer for a glossy magazine, and Alex, whose desire for stability led him to teach in their small hometown, the fictitious Linfield, Ohio. They haven’t spoken in almost two years, and Poppy misses him. When Alex’s brother invites her to his destination wedding in Barcelona (in the book, they travel to Palm Springs), it seems like the perfect opportunity for them to reconnect.
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