Who is \u201cvacation you\u201d? 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. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If you\u2019re anything like me, wherever you are, \u201cvacation you\u201d has a frothy book in hand. And, since Emily Henry\u2019s<\/a> aptly titled \u201cBeach Read\u201d was published in 2020 and catapulted her to instant bestselling author, there\u2019s a good chance that it\u2019s one of her summer-release romcoms. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Henry has released a book a year since 2020, but \u201cPeople We Meet on Vacation\u201d is the first to be adapted into a movie. (There are four more on the way: \u201cBeach Read,\u201d \u201cBook Lovers,\u201d \u201cFunny Story\u201d and \u201cHappy Place\u201d). Like the book, the movie, now streaming on Netflix<\/a>, 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<\/a> unfolds on annual summer trips between their early 20s and early 30s when they escape their real lives and become their vacation selves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While the movie largely parallels the book\u2019s 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\u2019s 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\u2019s happy ending is unsatisfying. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n 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\u2019t spoken in almost two years, and Poppy misses him. When Alex\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n But how did two people who are so different become such close friends in the first place, and what went so wrong that they don\u2019t talk anymore? To answer these questions, the movie, like Henry\u2019s novel, uses flashbacks to add context to the progression of the present-day story. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n At first, the flashbacks seem to work well. The first goes back nine summers to when Poppy and Alex first met. In a clear ode to \u201cWhen Harry Met Sally,\u201d the two are strangers stuck in a car together as they drive from their college to their shared hometown. This scene is one of the movie\u2019s highlights, and Bader\u2019s chaotic energy is a delightful onscreen counterpoint to Blyth\u2019s seriousness. It is also one of the flashbacks where the setting \u2014 a road trip that begins in standstill traffic before winding through the rural countryside until an error necessitates a stay at a roadside motel \u2014 is palpable. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n As the present-day story progresses, there are flashbacks to every other year of Poppy and Alex\u2019s annual trips. They visit Canada, New Orleans and Italy. However, for a movie about travel, the plot feels devoid of place. The only location with a strong setting is New Orleans, with its obligatory scenes of them walking together on Bourbon Street, eating beignets and dancing at a dive bar. In the present day, Poppy and Alex reconnect while staying in an upscale Airbnb in Barcelona, and both their accommodations and the secondary locations feel as bland as any set on any soundstage. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Instead, what gives these scenes energy is the believable friends-to-lovers chemistry between Bader and Blyth. However, even their eventual kiss and steamy balcony scene isn\u2019t enough to make the conflict it leads to believable. This is where the movie has a forced third-act problem. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Like all traditional romance trajectories, Poppy and Alex \u2014 even after almost a decade of pining \u2014 must break apart again before they are allowed to end up together. Without spoiling what happens or why, it\u2019s worth noting that fans of the book will probably miss some key details that are rushed or omitted from this part of the film. Without that backstory, viewers who haven\u2019t read the book may also find Alex and Poppy\u2019s immediate level of commitment rushed or unwarranted. Also, the tropey addition of running to the final scene \u2014 a complete departure from the book \u2014 is an avoidable, cringey resolution.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"Emily](\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/69611774160000b8539ec0b3.jpg?cache=xZfBskwgi0&ops=scalefit_720_noupscale&format=webp)
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