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Warning: Full spoilers for the film follow.
Look, I’ll be the first to tell you that Netflix movies are, with some notable exceptions, almost completely forgettable. I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times the streamer has created a film that managed to stick with me the day after I watched it. I’m happy to say that People We Meet on Vacation, the romantic comedy based on the novel by Emily Henry, is one such. I found it a perfectly enchanting, deeply touching, and often surprisingly hilarious film that had me laughing and crying.
In other words, it’s the perfect rom-com. When the film begins, Emily Bader’s Poppy Wright is a travel writer but, despite her rather lavish lifestyle and the fact she can go anywhere she wants on her magazine’s dime, feels disenchanted with her life. Thus, she leaps at the chance to attend the wedding of her friend, David (a criminally underused Miles Heizer), whose brother used to be Poppy’s best friend. A series of flashbacks show the beginning and growth of their friendship, while in the present the two of them struggle to remember what brought them together, all while trying to figure out just what it is they feel for one another. Eventually, of course, they realize that what they want most is one another, and they end up falling in love.
I think it’s fair to say that there’s tremendous chemistry between Blyth and Bader. From the moment Poppy and Alex meet it’s clear these two people are fated to be with one another, whether as friends or as something else. While Poppy is a bit of a wild child and a free spirit–someone who has a very flexible understanding of what being on time means and is quite happy to eat a very messy breakfast burrito in the car of someone she’s just met–Alex is the quintessential homebody, someone who just wants to move back to their small Ohio town and raise a family. As it turns out, though, there are rich depths to both of them, depths that are only really revealed each year when they reunite for their vacations.
The film is at its best in the past, when we see these two good friends getting to know one another, simply enjoying being away from the world and all of its pressures. Different as they are, there’s clearly something strong and deep between the two of them and, though neither one of them wants to admit it, that something is more than just friendship (though, as time will tell, that friend bond will be key to their burgeoning romantic feelings for each other). These scenes manage to be both poignant and often deeply hilarious, particularly the moment when Alex, after deciding to go skinny-dipping with a potential romantic interest, allows his clothes to get washed away in the river, leading him to walk the rest of the way back to camp naked. It’s a moment that allows Blyth to show off some of his comedy chops, and the movie is better for it.
Finally, we get to the infamous trip to Italy which brought their long-standing friendship to a screeching halt, thanks to a pregnancy scare, an almost-kiss, some awkward babbling from Poppy, and Alex’s impromptu proposal to his on-again/off-again girlfriend Sarah. This is classic rom-com miscommunication, and it works pretty well. Bader really captures Poppy’s sense of confusion as she tries to work through her confusion, a dynamic that will persist until very nearly the film’s end. It’s only once she kisses Alex in the present, though, that the pieces start to click together.
At first, I was a little conflicted about the film’s resolution, which sees Poppy essentially giving up her career as a successful journalist to quasi-settle down with someone who is, as another character puts it, a bit like limp lettuce. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that wasn’t really an accurate read of what happens in the film. To be sure, Poppy is the one who gradually comes to realize that her career isn’t satisfying in and of itself, while Alex has always been happy being what he is: a small-town dude who likes living in his hometown. However, we’ve known from the jump that she’s not particularly happy with her life or, frankly, with some of her life choices. For some, being a free spirit and jetting around the world is a source of empowerment and joy; for Poppy, though, it seems to be something else, an escape from an emptiness inside of her she doesn’t quite know how to put into words.
The thing of it is: these two characters make the most sense, and are happier, when they’re together. No matter how hard they try to get away from it, and no matter how much they’ve managed to hurt one another (largely inadvertently) over the years, the truth is they bring out the best in one another. More to the point, they are quite simply enough. And, having seen them together in so many wonderful scenes–whether dancing as only two straight people hopelessly in love with one another can dance or taking care of one another when they’re sick–we actually believe they have what it takes.
While People We Meet on Vacation is quite touching and, contrary to what other critics have claimed, filled with at least glimmers of emotional insight, it’s also quite funny. This will come as no surprise to those of us who had a field day watching Bader shine in the batshit fun that was My Lady Jane, but she’s even more in her element here. Whether it’s spilling the aforementioned breakfast burrito all over Alex’s car or acting like a total weirdo when she’s encountering other people on vacation, Bader simply owns the moment. Blyth, likewise, is the perfect straight man, his intense style of performance perfect for someone like Alex, who feels thanks deeply but often has trouble expressing them (he is a man, after all).
I do have a few quibbles with the screenplay. I would’ve liked to see more of Poppy’s friendship with Alex’s brother, David, particularly since that bond is important enough for the latter to invite Poppy to his wedding. As it is, the screenplay doesn’t really give us any insight as to when they met or how they became close or even whether they’re that close at all. I also would’ve liked to have seen more of Poppy’s parents, particularly since they’re played by two geniuses like Molly Shannon and Alan Ruck. Still, these are relatively minor quibbles.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that People We Meet on Vacation is one of the truly great rom-coms, I do think it’s one of the better ones. There is genuine emotional insight here, about how we sometimes are our own worst enemies, sabotaging what could be beautiful and satisfying relationships because we’re afraid we’re not enough. It’s funny and sweet and, at the end of the day, that too, is enough.
