Netflix’s new film adaptation is a big disappointment

Who is “you on vacation”? You know, that version of yourself that comes into existence for a brief period each year as you sink your toes in the sand or wander the streets of a new city, reinvigorated with the freedom that comes from escaping emails, laundry, and rideshares.

If you’re like me, wherever you are, “vacation” has a frothy book in your hand. And since Emily Henry’s aptly titled “Beach Read” was published in 2020 and catapulted her to instant bestselling author status, there’s a good chance it’ll be one of your summer rom-coms.

Henry has published one book a year since 2020, but “People We Meet on Vacation” is the first adapted into a film. (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 story of friends and lovers. The free-spirited Poppy (Emily Bader) and the straight-laced Alex (Tom Blyth) have been best friends since college, and their slow romance develops on annual summer trips in their 20s and 30s, when they escape their real lives and become their vacation selves.

While the film largely parallels the book’s plot, it is simpler in scope and relies too heavily on its structure. Instead of taking advantage of Bader and Blyth’s clever casting to develop Henry’s characters, the film assumes an unearned attachment to them. 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 movie itself is a disappointment, and Poppy and Alex’s happy ending is unsatisfying.

Both the film and the book begin in the present day. An unknown incident has created a rift between Poppy, whose passion for travel has led her to a career as a travel writer for a fashion magazine, and Alex, whose desire for stability led him to teach in his small hometown, the fictional 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.

But how did two such different people become such close friends, and what went so wrong that they no longer speak? To answer these questions, the film, like Henry’s novel, uses flashbacks to add context to the progression of the current story.

At first, the flashbacks seem to work well. The first goes back nine summers, when Poppy and Alex met. In a clear ode to “When Harry Met Sally,” the two are strangers trapped in a car together while driving from their college to their shared hometown. This scene is one of the film’s highlights, and Bader’s chaotic energy is a delightful on-screen counterpoint to Blyth’s seriousness. It’s also one of the flashbacks where the setting (a road trip that begins with stopped traffic before winding through the rural countryside until a mistake requires a stay at a roadside motel) is palpable.

As the current story progresses, there are flashbacks to every other year of Poppy and Alex’s annual trips. They visit Canada, New Orleans and Italy. However, for a travel movie, the plot seems out of place. The only place with a strong setting is New Orleans, with its obligatory scenes of them walking down Bourbon Street together, eating beignets, and dancing in a dive bar. In the present day, Poppy and Alex reunite while staying at a luxury Airbnb in Barcelona, ​​and both their accommodations and secondary locations feel as bland as any soundstage set.

Daniel Escala/Netflix

Instead, what energizes these scenes is the believable friends-lovers chemistry between Bader and Blyth. However, even their eventual kiss and fiery scene on the balcony are not enough to make the conflict it leads to believable. This is where the movie has a forced third act problem.

Like all traditional romantic trajectories, Poppy and Alex, even after nearly a decade of longing, must separate again before they are allowed to end up together. Without giving away what happens or why, it’s worth noting that fans of the book will likely miss some key details that are rushed or omitted in this part of the film. Without that backstory, viewers who haven’t read the book may also find Alex and Poppy’s immediate level of commitment rushed or unwarranted. Furthermore, the clichéd addition of running until the final scene (a complete departure from the book) is an embarrassing and avoidable resolution.

The extent of these third act problems seems to be very specific to the small screen. It’s rare for a romantic comedy to go from book to streaming without being diluted somehow. The loss of credibility here is due to the lack of depth in the characters’ story, which made Poppy and Alex one of my favorite Henry couples.

By the end of the book, much of Poppy’s character development comes from her discovery that the right person can make real life feel like a vacation.

“People We Meet on Vacation” is a reminder of how romantic comedies, even imperfect ones, can do that for us. Love stories like Poppy and Alex’s give us a respite from daily life, a chance to escape, dream and wish, and maybe temporarily feel like our vacation selves, even in the dead of winter.

Unfortunately, the Netflix adaptation left me cold.

“People We Meet on Vacation” is streaming on Netflix.