Movie Review: 'People We Meet On Vacation' Is Fine For An Uneventful Evening At Home
6/12 ForReel Score | 2.5/5 Stars
There was a time when rom-coms were the lushest part of the filmmaking jungle. In their golden age, they dominated the box office and could catapult actors to stardom. There were a few formulas, but usually a mismatched couple who would never fall in love would spend some time together and then…fall in love. They're reliable, familiar and comforting.
Today, however, we are in a virtual wasteland when it comes to rom-coms. They still get made, but are largely relegated to streaming rather than theatrical releases. The budgets are lower, and even though they remain a good vehicle for up-and-coming performers, there's a very low chance they'll change anyone's life, cast or audience alike.
Image courtesy of Netflix
People We Meet on Vacation is the latest entry in the genre. It is, in a word, familiar. The film stars Emily Bader and Tom Blyth as Poppy and Alex. She's a manic pixie freespirited wanderer who refuses to be tied down, and he's a mildly uptight man who still lives in their shared hometown and basically refuses to leave because he prefers stability (and hates flying).
The twist, this time around, is that the story begins closer to the ending. In the present, Poppy and Alex haven't spoken in two years after a falling-out on their last shared vacation. This is the hook of the film, you see: when they first meet, they realize that they won't work and decide to become friends. Eventually, they agree to take a trip together every summer, and this becomes the film's structure. In the present, someone will mention something about a trip, and then we flash back to that trip.
It would be a novel way to tell a story if Lost hadn't dominated television in the 2000s, but there's a familiarity to the structure that is also strangely comforting. However, it might also be the film's first problem: at just shy of two hours and with five flashbacks and a main story to tell, the whole thing ends up feeling a little underbaked.
Image courtesy of Netflix
Despite the nonlinear structure, the film follows the pattern of "we'll never get together" to "this person is very important in my life" to "wait, do I have feelings?" right to a happy ending. There is, of course, some conflict here and there that I won't spoil, but that too will feel familiar and perhaps comforting.
This becomes the film's strength and weakness. The style, structure, and archetypal characters are all familiar and nice to spend time with, but the film never strays from that path. There's nothing unique or particularly interesting about this film, nor about the way it's presented, other than the fact that it's exactly what it is. Bader and Blyth are both very attractive people and game for the shenanigans the film asks of them. They both have some nice moments and good chemistry, and there's one extremely hot scene that involves the clasp of a dress, but that's about it.
The result is that People We Meet On Vacation is a fine movie, but that's all it is. It's never challenging, surprising, or remarkable in any way, except maybe for the aforementioned attractive people. There aren't even that many big laughs, just a constant stream of mild chuckles as they wander around beautiful places with each other instead of their respective partners. The film is not so bad as to be "second screen viewing", but you'll also likely never re-watch it until the inevitable glut of clips on TikTok and Instagram. It's totally fine, Wednesday Night viewing, but that's all it's trying to be, and that will be enough for some.
Acting and Casting - 2 | Visual Effects and Editing - 1 | Story and Message - 1 | Entertainment Value - 1 | Music Score and Soundtrack - 0 | Reviewer's Preference - 1 | What does this mean?