People We Meet on Vacation: From page-turner to fast-forward

Netflix’s People We Meet on Vacation, adapted from Emily Henry’s bestselling 2021 novel, arrives with plenty of built-in goodwill. The story features the classic friends-to-lovers trope combined with a globe-trotting format and the promise of emotional heat and scenic vistas. With stars such as Emily Bader as Poppy Wright and Tom Blythe as Alex Nilsen, the book was ready to come to life. Yet, the film struggles to fully capture what made the book resonate so powerfully with readers.

Director Brett Haley’s film feeds into the glossy rom-com template: gorgeous aesthetics, stylish locations and a familiar emotional up-and-down relationship. But where it should build tension, the movie often feels rushed, superficial and unevenly paced. 

Some scenes hit harder than others. A car ride, where Poppy and Alex’s chemistry first sparks, stands out as one of the film’s few genuinely memorable scenes. Still, the movie deviates from the book, altering the scene and rushing it. The scene in the book is filled with awkward silence. The only main topic of conversation is only about their hates and loves in life. In the movie, they briefly mention this and move on too fast from this character-building moment. 

Similarly, a wedding dance later in the film finds rhythm and warmth in an otherwise unfocused second act. Yet what should have been slow-burning tension comes off as sudden or insufficiently earned. 

Courtesy of Netflix

A car scene between Poppy and Alex stands out as one of the most memorable scenes of the film.

At its best, the movie fits the characters’ archetypes. Poppy is irresistibly chaotic and Alex is cautious and guarded. But at its worst, it fails to capture the depth of what made their relationship so compelling on the page. Alex occasionally feels underutilized while Poppy’s quirks sometimes verge into a caricature without the weight the novel provided. 

Book vs. Movie: Key differences

Readers coming to the film with the book fresh in mind are likely to notice how much the adaptation streamlines and reshapes the original story, for better and for worse.

1. Timeline and locations

The novel spans a decade of summer trips taken by Poppy and Alex, with far more stops and milestones than the film can fit. Several trips, like those to Croatia or Colorado, don’t make it into the Netflix version. This results in the settings of some big moments being shifted. In the movie, Poppy hurts her ankle while walking home in New Orleans. However, in the book, she hurts her ankle while hiking in Vail. Most notably, the pivotal reunion at Alex’s brother’s wedding takes place in Palm Springs in the book, but is relocated to Barcelona in the film. This change was reportedly driven by visual and production considerations.

These changes aren’t just cosmetic but also impact the story. The vacations in the book are emotional waypoints. They chart the slow build of mutual attraction and the subtle ways vacation environments reflect the pair’s evolving inner lives. The film’s reduced stops make the narrative feel more like a highlight reel than a lived-in journey.

2. Character depth and side characters

Beloved side characters like Rachel and Swapna have much smaller roles in the film. In the book, these supporting figures enrich Poppy’s world. They help to anchor emotional beats and give texture to the universe beyond the two main characters. Their lack of relevance in the film contributes to the feeling that important motivational and relational nuance is missing. 

3. Key scenes and emotional arcs

Certain signature book moments, such as the awkward tension in Croatia, the heated ’vacation arguments,’ and the vasectomy scene that crystallized Alex’s internal conflict, are either significantly altered or omitted. The point of Alex getting a vasectomy is to show how deep his love goes for Poppy, so it feels odd to remove it from the film

Courtesy of Netflix

Emily Bader as Poppy Wright and Tom Blythe as Alex Nilsen in “People We Meet on Vacation.”

The film also dilutes and alters Alex and Sarah’s relationship heavily. In the movie, Alex proposes to Sarah in Tuscany after almost kissing Poppy the night before. In the book, Alex only ever thinks about proposing and buying the ring, but he never follows through. The movie gives the impression that Alex is not as shy as he is in the book, and also that he was not as in love with Poppy as he was in the book. This alters the viewer’s perspective of him, making Alex seem like just any other rom-com character. Instead of resonating with his book persona being shy and deeply in love, the movie portrays him as less deep and acting more rashly. 

In the end, People We Meet on Vacation on Netflix is a rom-com with occasional charm but too many editorial compromises. Fans of the book may come away feeling like something essential got lost in translation, a tension that’s more internal than external, more lived through than neatly explained. Ultimately, it’s a film that fits the characters in silhouette but not quite in depth.