‘People We Meet on Vacation’ Just Hit #1 on Netflix—Here’s How the New Movie Stacks Up Against the Best-Selling Novel

I may have been late on the Emily Henry train, but in a scant six weeks, I read all her romcoms minus one (Book Lovers). The most recent one I polished off was People We Meet on Vacation ($11), timed to the release of the film adaptation—now number one on Netflix—starring Emily Bader (My Lady Jane) and Tom Blyth (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes). As an avid reader first and foremost, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the movie, and I had heard that there was a purported “lack of chemistry” between the leads, per some fellow book lovers. After doing my homework, here’s what I really think.

Henry’s novel centers around best friends Poppy Wright and Alex Nilsen, two misfits in their own ways. Poppy’s a gregarious travel writer whose fashion is as loud as her personality, but with a deep fear of being rejected if she lets people in too close. Alex is a brooding, laconic academic, shouldering the burdens of growing up quickly and becoming a surrogate parent after his mother dies. They couldn’t have less in common. And yet, one fateful car ride home from the University of Chicago cements their friendship. Though they live far apart, they take one trip together every summer. Until two years ago, when it all went down in Croatia and they stopped talking. But with Alex’s younger brother getting married in Palm Springs, the estranged friends find themselves in the California desert with nothing but a broken AC unit and unresolved feelings. With her signature humor and sharp dialogue, Henry had me chortling the whole way through—and feeling a little *too* seen in the friends-to-lovers trope. Through the two protagonists, she deftly explores the hopes, fears and risks of falling in love with the one person you can’t bear to lose…and the pitfalls of trying to protect yourself from heartbreak.

The two-hour film adaptation takes some creative liberties and drops viewers not into a Slim Aarons, Palm Springs dreamland but Barcelona. It’s a feat to condense 300 pages to 120 minutes, and overall, the writers did it well. The dialogue, while mostly not verbatim from the book, still felt like Henry—brash, quippy, hilarious. I’m not one for physical reaction (I have a friend who sobs), but I LAUGHED out loud while watching. The writers retained some of the most memorable lines and moments (“It speaks to me!” “Too many wine.” IYKYK), while tightening up the pacing. The book’s timeline spans a dozen years, with tons of flashbacks to Poppy and Alex’s myriad vacations. The movie does a fair amount of trimming, but not at the expense of context and storyline.

I’ve heard a few critiques from friends and fellow readers that they didn’t love the chemistry between Bader and Blyth—or, rather, the lack of it. Here, I’ll disagree. Having both read and watched, I think that the characters were well portrayed, with each actor comporting themselves in a way that was true to their protagonist. And let’s face it: Alex Nilsen is a taciturn, uptight control freak. It’s difficult to have chemistry with a wooden plank. But I will hand it to Blyth: He plays Alex with nuance that gets us past the unmoving facade, small cracks on the surface that show exactly what he’s thinking. Meanwhile, Bader was as loud and as colorful as her character’s name implied. The chemistry wasn’t electric, sure. But, falling in love with your friend isn’t often an electric experience. It’s a slow fizzle as one (or both) of you finally figures it out. Then cue the fireworks.