Back in the day, a good romantic comedy always had people rushing to the theater all excited to see how boy-meets-girl turns sour and then lovey-dovey all over again. Here’s the thing: this genre has always been predictable, because there’s only one way for a romantic comedy to end, and we already know the answer to that. But the question was never “Will they end up together?”; it’s always about how they end up together, and why it took so long. From an outsider’s perspective, the leading pair of a romantic comedy often look like they want to jump each other’s bones, but they themselves seem to think they hate each other, or worse, they’re just friends. I’m going on this rant of sorts specifically because we’ve been quite harsh on this genre lately. Though I can’t say we haven’t been getting trash content too, so it’s a little bit of a two-sided problem. However, this will not stop me from watching every new romance movie out there, especially if it’s an adaptation of a best-selling novel I haven’t gotten around to reading yet.
Okay, don’t yell at me, but I’ve just been trying different things and never got around to “People We Meet On Vacation.” However, Netflix made life easier by announcing an adaptation like a gazillion years ago, and then giving us little snippets that really made us want to watch this film. Hear me out, we do not watch trailers because they give away everything about a film these days, but we do watch teasers, and we do see Instagram clips that make us realize the leading pair are two stunning people that will definitely work in a romantic film about travelling and meeting people. People We Meet On Vacation fits every criterion for a god-tier rom-com; it’s a friends-to-lovers story about two very attractive people who’ve had a misunderstanding that’s kept them from talking to each other for 2 whole years. Why don’t they get back together? Why aren’t they friends anymore? What went wrong? All of these are the questions you’ve got lingering on your mind immediately.
From the get-go, I found something intriguingly different about this film, and that is that the meeting of Poppy and Alex is the most natural thing I’ve seen in a really long time. Everything now almost feels like a setup, and nothing feels truly natural. But this particular film establishes its story before we even set foot in it. That immediately got me interested. On top of that, the film keeps going from the present to the past, little snippets of sweet flashbacks that make you feel for Poppy and Alex both. But my big problem is that, because of this, the ending of the film feels really rushed, and the resolution feels quite contrived in comparison to how things have been going from the beginning. So, as I said, it’s not the “do they end up together?” question we really care about; it’s the “how do they finally end up together?” And in this case, the answer feels half-baked or a little underwhelming.
However, this is not to say that PWMOV is a skip. It’s not a bad film by any means, and a lot of that is owed to the two actors who play Poppy and Alex. I think Poppy is a really hard character to play, and since the film is essentially from her perspective, for the most part, Emily Bader does an excellent job in making her feel real and not like an annoying caricature. I say this because when you look at Poppy, many people will immediately find her exasperating. She’s bold, doesn’t shy away from embarrassing herself, and is genuinely interested in getting to know people. One could say she’s a manic pixie dream girl, but dreamt up by a woman? This is the kind of character that a lot of women don’t relate to, but Emily makes her feel grounded. She makes Poppy relatable, and that’s the reason this film works at all.
On the other hand, I did not know Tom Blyth had game. Don’t come at me, because the only place I’ve seen him (unfortunately) is The Gilded Age, so this came as a total surprise for me. No, I would’ve never believed he was a Brummie had I not googled him after watching this film, because the man is giving full American with no difficulty. And of course, it’s not a good romance film if there’s no chemistry, and boy, these two pulled through. I could definitely feel that heat in their eyes.
As someone who hasn’t read the book, I don’t know how different the adaptation is from the source material, but I genuinely enjoyed what came out of it. It’s so hard to find a lighthearted film that doesn’t have some unnecessary baggage in the background, but this film does it smoothly. Despite a few holes in the story, specifically towards the end, which feels unnecessarily rushed, I think People We Meet On Vacation is an easy recommendation. There’s something very Bollywood about this story. I’m not going to lie, it did make me think of Yeh Jawani Hain Deewani and Jab We Met, more so the latter, because the serious hero vs. unserious comedy heroine is a big part of that story too, and I couldn’t help but draw parallels.
I am quite disappointed I have to see this film at home because, honestly, this is beautifully shot and would’ve done wonders on a big screen. I think it’s definitely got some memorable moments, especially when Alex busts out some moves, so keep an eye out for that. I think this is a film that’s an easy breeze and can start up fun conversations between friends, making it the perfect thing to put on at your next sleepover. So, I give People We Meet On Vacation 3.5 out of 5 stars. If you’ve always been a fan of rom-coms, you might be pleasantly surprised by this, and if you’re not normally a fan, you might actually like it, so it’s a win-win for all.
