PEOPLE WE MEET ON VACATION
Starring: Emily Bader, Tom Blyth, Sarah Catherine Hook, Jameela Jamil, Lucien Laviscount, Alan Ruck, and Molly Shannon
Director: Brett Haley
PAIGE
People We Meet on Vacation is a light and pretty cliché romantic comedy that lacks genuine comedy. While it’s full of tropes, it’s at least cute and has some sweet moments sprinkled within it. The movie’s saving grace is its two leads, Emily Bader and Tom Blyth, whose chemistry carries much of the film. However, with such a bland script, many of the movie’s emotional beats are prevented from shining through. This story would’ve fared far better as a limited series to allow more time to flesh out its characters’ relationship, but instead it’s lackluster due to its limited runtime.
KATIE
People We Meet on Vacation is a ridiculously superficial, predictable enemies-to-lovers rom-com that I only enjoyed thanks to Emily Bader and Tom Blyth’s convincing chemistry. Their connection just about makes up for Bader’s character Poppy lacking authenticity, and the unimaginative pairing of the uptight one with the messy, carefree one. Like One Day, the pair meet once a year, but in gorgeous, sun-drenched, expensive-looking settings that emphasise the film’s glossy sheen and make for very easy, if not always engaging, watching. It’s not quite terrible, but it’s basically pretty people in beautiful places with no character development.
ROBERT
If it’s not going to be prestige cinema, a modern romantic comedy doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. However, it does need something to set itself apart, and People We Meet on Vacation is as tropey as can be. I couldn’t believe that young Coriolanus Snow (Tom Blyth) was tapped to lead a movie like this, but he and Emily Bader drove this lemon as far as it could. It was cute and inoffensive, but beyond one truthful conversation near the end, it lacked any sense of realism with chosen dialogue and progression of plot. Functional brain cells aren’t needed for this one.
