People We Meet on Vacation Review

Most people don't have the time, money, or energy to watch many movies, so when you do get a chance to watch something, you want it to be worthwhile. That's why Rotten Tomatoes exists: to give a snapshot of whether a movie is worth your time. But does it always work? I'll be watching all of Rotten Tomatoes’ Certified Fresh movies from this Wikipedia list, and we'll see if these movies are really worth the hype.

Movie 1 of 2026:

People We Meet on Vacation, directed by Brett Haley, is based on a popular novel of the same name. I've never read this book before, but based on the film's synopsis and home on Netflix, I figured I knew what I was in for. Overall, I think I was right. I was met with a quirky protagonist, at times too quirky, and a typical friends-to-lovers trope.

The story is told in a non-linear manner as we see the yearly friend vacations between Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth). Something about this narrative felt icky to me. It was probably the fact that Alex had a long-term girlfriend, though it was mentioned their relationship was pretty on and off. I would probably break up with someone, too, if they continued to go on romantic getaways with their attractive best friend, who has boundary issues.

If nearly a decade of emotional infidelity wasn't enough, these two don't really seem compatible at all. This is heavily illustrated in one of the earlier segments of the film where the two first meet. They are both attending the same college after coming from a small town in Ohio, so the two end up on a road trip to go back home from school. Right off the bat, the character of Poppy was so unbelievably annoying that I actually started to feel bad for this guy. He immediately comes across as someone who loves his small town and doesn't really have dreams of living in the big city. However, we do get to see Alex's love for travel start to blossom. I don't really think someone enjoying a nice vacation every once in a while necessarily means that's how they want to live their day-to-day life, though.

By the end of the movie, it seems like maybe they will realize they're not the most compatible as romantic partners. But, of course, this is a typical Netflix rom-com, so the protagonists have to end up together. This culminates in what feels like Alex settling by becoming inserted into Poppy's life in the city instead of maintaining his home and job in his hometown. I thought this was a pretty bleak ending, especially because there was a prior scene where Poppy was trying to convince Alex to break up with his girlfriend. She told him that he was settling by having that life, but it seemed like one that he really wanted. He even seemed to make a pretty clear choice when that conversation prompted him to propose to his girlfriend.

As far as positives go, I really think the entire cast did a great job with what they had to work with. Even when there were plot-based character inconsistencies, it wasn't as noticeable because everyone was really selling it. The scenery was also really lovely. I could tell that some of the shots were filmed on location, which is always refreshing for a movie like this. This could have probably been made with a really low budget, but I appreciate that the resources were put into this, which ensured that the visuals didn't fall flat.

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 74%

Is it worth the hype?:

It wasn't for me. I guess I just don't find emotional infidelity very romantic. That's what held this back from being cheesy fun for me. I do appreciate how well the actors sold some pretty annoying characters, though. Check this out if you are looking for a pretty standard rom-com, just be aware that some plot points might sour the experience.