Home, as the film “People We Meet on Vacation” suggests, is not always a place.
Sometimes, it’s a person.
As an avid rom-com lover, I marked my calendar as soon as Netflix announced this new romance film.
I watched the movie as soon as it premiered and it’s my top rom-com of this year.
The film is based on the novel “People We Meet on Vacation” by Emily Henry released in 2021. Although I didn’t read the book, I loved the movie.
Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) are Boston College students that meet when they carpool back to their hometown in Ohio for the summer.
During the long drive home, they form an unlikely friendship and make a pact to plan a vacation together every year.
The film flashes forward a decade, where Alex and Poppy are no longer on speaking terms; in short flashbacks, the film shows how the two got to the present moment and all the details leading up.
The flashbacks felt rushed and lacking with the movie’s limited runtime but even so, one flashback stands out above them all.
There’s one flashback to their trip to New Orleans that made the movie. The music, colors and cinematography solidified Poppy and Alex’s relationship and bond.
Their chemistry could be felt through the screen and, for the first time in a while, I was kicking my feet and giggling like a teenage girl in a movie.
It’s been such a long time since a rom-com gave my stomach butterflies, but that scene did it.
I resonated with how Poppy’s character is as authentic as she can be, even when it leaves her isolated. To quote the Mad Hatter from “Alice in Wonderland,” “You were much more … muchier … you’ve lost your muchness.”
As a girl who’s always sort of felt out of place and like I’m too much, seeing Poppy be loved for her muchness was refreshing.
This movie reminded me of older rom-coms that came out in the 2010’s like “Me Before You” and “Love, Rosie.”
It reminded me that our dreams and aspirations can change. What we think we want is not always what we actually want.
Sometimes, it takes losing something to recognize its value and experiencing the wrong thing to know what’s right.
If you love cheesy romance that will have you giggling and feeling hopeful about love and happily-ever-afters, this movie is for you.
Rating: 4.5/5
