Written by: Yulin Kuang, Amos Vernon, Nunzio Randazzo
Starring: Emily Bader, Tom Blyth, Sarah Catherine Hook, Lucien Laviscount, Miles Heizer
Rating: [2.5/5]
When on vacation I tend to activate a different side of me. One where I don’t mind spending an exorbitant amount of money on cocktails and other luxuries that I just do not partake in when at home. Vacation works as a culmination of time and money invested into an experience that defies normal life, which only further illustrates its vital importance in our lives. This state also propels the film People We Meet on Vacation, which had some great potential but ultimately does not fully deliver because of its wonky structure and failure to deliver two dynamic leads.
Striking up a friendship while in college, Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) discover the joys of being a different version of themselves while on vacation. They make a pact that every summer, no matter where they are in life, they will enjoy a vacation together. While easy in their early years of adulthood, complications arise as they enter romantic relationships with others and still have lingering feelings towards each other.
Much of what People We Meet on Vacation has to offer sounds like something that would be up my alley. I love a good romantic comedy, and I love the enrichment travel provides the soul, but as I argue for all films within the genre, the two leads have to work well together. Everything else can make sense, but if the central pair in a romantic comedy does not have the spark and chemistry, then the project can ultimately fail. That’s the case with his film, where Emily Bader puts in some good work, but Tom Blyth is incredibly dry.
Blyth’s character, Alex, has a level of dryness to him intentionally, which makes the friendship he has with Poppy so impactful. We see a young man who’s closed off where going on these vacations and being a freer version of himself does so much good. However, as the film progresses you would want this character to feel at least more interesting and we fail to get that with Alex. Blyth’s performance leaves much to be desired, which harms Emily Bader’s performance, where she does a pretty decent job in portraying Poppy. A classic romantic comedy lead who brings this energy into every scene that would have been helped with a better co-star.
My issues with the film stretch beyond the casting and also lie with the overall structure of the narrative. People We Meet on Vacation takes the direction of operating through different timelines where we follow one period of their lives and receive the remaining context through flashbacks over nine years. It makes the opening where a distinct coldness exists between them a tad bit concerning given how much joy and friendship we see between them in the flashbacks. When utilizing this method there needs to be a level of narrative control and unfortunately, this film continually ruined whatever momentum it built in one timeline by jumping over to another. Whether this method of storytelling was utilized in the popular novel this film adapted to greater success, I do not know, but it surely did not work in this production.
There are some positives to take away from this film, however, and that lies with the view of vacation and Poppy’s career arc as a whole. This central struggle she has would make for a fine film of its own without the inclusion of a lackluster romantic plot with Alex where she ponders the deeper purpose of what it means to vacation. We see the glamorous elements of it through Poppy but also the enriching ones and how much it can bring someone closer to the area they visit but also to the individuals they experience it with. Definitely much more fertile ground that this film could have explored even more, but with the small amounts this film provides, it succeeds in delivering.
While not necessarily working as a film overall, People We Meet on Vacation works on some levels. We have a good lead performance by Emily Bader and a character arc in Poppy that deserved even more exploration without the human-sized weight of Alex and Tom Blyth’s performance weighing her down the entire time. This film can provide some baseline entertainment if someone wishes to watch a romantic comedy, but it falls below the potential evident with its characters.
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