I have missed good romantic comedies. The kind that have been inspired by the ones of the past – Harry Met Sally or You’ve Got Mail, Confessions of a Shopaholic or The Holiday. I could name so many of them, because I grew up on them. They somehow became a lost art – one that was neglected over time, with poor excuses for what tried to pass as ones that would become iconic.
It’s hard when you love a romance book, and it gets adapted to film. It’s like this automatic feeling of, well, someone is sucking out my joy. Your favorite book adapted? You know that there will be changes. You know that you’re probably going to have to choke down some feelings because you can’t say that it sucks. For once in the past five years, I am not choking on words – instead, I am wanting to scream from the rooftop – People We Meet On Vacation is one of the best romantic comedies I have ever seen. It’s definitely the best that I have seen in the past five years.
And I don’t say that lightly.
I have inhaled all of Emily Henry’s books. As I’ve cracked open the spine to each book, I have read each book in one sitting. I’ve been engrossed in the words that she has written – woven together like a perfect tapestry that will keep you warm and fuzzy, filled with this feeling of just joy.
IT IS THE CASTING
A lot of that has to do with the casting of Emily Bader and Tom Blyth as Poppy and Alex, respectively. The two have that awkward thing that grows into this comfort that you’ve been waiting for all along. Two friends who are finding their way to falling in love. Maybe friends-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, and that is what makes it make sense to me, or maybe it is the undeniable draw that these two have when they saunter onto the screen.
Poppy Wright (Bader) has a wanderlust heart. She’s dreamed of moving to New York, traveling for a living, and writing. She’s got a job working for R&R Magazine. Poppy doesn’t like to be in the same place or form attachments if she doesn’t have to. The one person who makes sense to her is Alex. They are completely different people, but somehow, when they are together, they balance each other.
Her best friend, Alex Nilsen (Blyth), loves living in Ohio and is completely type A. The two spend one week together every year, taking a vacation together, and have stopped doing that after a trip to Tuscany that was like a dumpster fire on steroids. Sometimes being honest and open can change things, but running from your feelings can change things even more. The two meet in Barcelona for Alex’s little brother’s wedding.
WEDDINGS
David wants Poppy there to make the wedding fun. What unleashes is a lot of feelings that they thought they had suppressed and truths that they thought they could keep secret forever.
The two hours of ups and downs would not make sense or bring out such emotion if it weren’t for its leads. Blyth and Bader’s casting is what makes People We Meet On Vacation. They give us this raw performance of emotion that makes you spend over half of the movie screaming at the television for them to admit their feelings for each other and stop wasting time.
But it’s Tuscany that broke me – as a viewer – wondering how Alex could be so stupid and how Poppy could have just stopped this whole thing had she just been honest. Calling Alex out on his settling and him acting so high and mighty – well, it wasn’t the time. The words were cruel and somewhat uncalled for.
CHEMISTRY
It’s Blyth and Bader’s chemistry that makes the hard task of conveying the evolution of a friendship to a relationship that pushes both of them out of their comfort zone. It’s the way that they melt together in the rain, and years of pent-up emotion finally come out, that I found myself clapping for the two. I believed that Poppy and Alex were meant for each other.
If you think that’s where it gets easy and we’re in a happily ever after situation, you would be wrong. They are still complete opposites, and Alex wants answers right away, whereas Poppy wants to live in the moment. Alex is so buttoned up, thinking that everything has to be figured out in the moment.
Alex’s judgmental attitude towards her in the moment – which is partially because he’s on a spiral – will infuriate you as a viewer (at least it did me). While in the book, I felt like we got to know the other characters, and we didn’t so much here – I am okay with that. I am okay with that because I felt like I was getting this whole new look at Poppy and Alex, a whole new story of why they are one of my favorite couples of all time.
WRAPPING IT UP
Nothing in life is perfect, but People We Meet On Vacation is as close to perfection as I think that we can be given with an adaptation. I only wish that I had gotten to see it in a movie theater, my head nestled on someone’s shoulder, and uttering the words, “I hate running, and I would go running after you.”
Though I’ll take this adaptation anywhere I can watch it. Now, I am off to let my fangirl flag fly and watch it for the fifth time.
