People We Meet on Vacation movie review: Romcom that books the trip but forgets the journey
Cast: Emily Bader, Tom Blyth
Director: Brett Haley
Rating: ★★.5
Adapted from a bestselling novel by Emily Henry, People We Meet on Vacation arrives with the kind of built-in goodwill most romantic comedies would kill for. It is glossy, sunlit, comfortably familiar and acutely aware of the genre it inhabits. Released in the dead of winter, the film clearly wants to function as a warm-weather fantasy — a soft-focus reminder of beaches, bad decisions and better timing. What it doesn’t quite manage is to turn that familiarity into feeling.
At its core, this is a romance that knows exactly where it is headed and makes little effort to pretend otherwise. The problem isn’t predictability — romcoms thrive on it — but how dutifully the film goes through motions we’ve seen executed with far more wit and emotional texture elsewhere.
The story follows Poppy, a travel writer whose globe-trotting career has begun to feel emptier than the postcards suggest, and Alex, her polar opposite: rooted, cautious and content with a smaller radius of life. After meeting in college, the two strike an annual pact — one vacation together every year — a ritual that stretches across nearly a decade of missed chances, near confessions and romantic detours. When they reunite for a wedding after a long estrangement, the film toggles between past trips and present-day awkwardness, inching toward a conclusion no one in the room doubts.
The good
The film’s greatest asset is its ease. The chemistry between the leads, while never electric, is gentle enough to keep things watchable. Their dynamic works best in quieter moments — shared glances, small jokes, silences that suggest a deeper familiarity than the script often earns. There’s also undeniable polish in the way the film looks: sun-drenched locations, postcard-ready frames and a colour palette that screams escapism. A handful of supporting performances briefly inject life and humour, hinting at a sharper film lurking somewhere beneath the surface.
The bad
For a story built around travel, the film is oddly incurious about place. Cities blur into backdrops, experiences feel interchangeable, and wanderlust is more implied than felt. Structurally, the constant back-and-forth in time adds clutter without deepening character, and the central conflict — why these two people don’t simply choose each other sooner — feels increasingly contrived. The writing leans heavily on romcom shorthand: opposites attract, emotional avoidance, third-act clarity. What should feel lived-in instead feels assembled.
The verdict
People We Meet on Vacation is pleasant, competently made and largely hollow. It offers comfort without consequence, romance without real ache, and travel without discovery. For a lazy watch, it does the job. For anything more, it never quite leaves the departure gate.
