‘Tis the season for book adaptations! There are so many great adaptations on my radar this year, and we started the year so strong with People We Meet on Vacation. But before I dive into this movie, let’s go back to the beginning…
To be transparent, I didn’t love the book. It’s Emily Henry, so, of course, I had a wonderful time reading it, but it simply doesn’t compare to the way I connected to Funny Story or Beach Read. I couldn’t see myself in any of the characters, and none of the plot points randomly pop into my head when I’m in class. Now, Funny Story, on the other hand, runs through my brain on a constant loop. So, when PWMOV was announced as the first Emily Henry adaptation, I was a little disappointed, yet slightly relieved. There was no better place to test the waters. But I couldn’t help but have this impending feeling that this movie would set the tone for all of the adaptations to follow. Suddenly, this one movie carried the weight of five. No pressure! However, after watching it three times within one week of its release, I have hope for the Emily Henry Cinematic Universe. Did I think it was a perfect adaptation? Not entirely. There were some scenes and themes I would have loved to see come to life on screen. Am I still obsessed with it, and will I watch it when I’d rather not be emotionally wrecked by La La Land? Yes, absolutely. But let’s dive into that a little bit more…
CASTING AND CHARACTERS
Is it crazy to say that the switch from blondes to brunettes saved the movie for me? Maybe, but these are my opinions, so we’ll rock with it. This is no hate to blondes (I was blonde from 6th grade to my sophomore year in college), but something about a brunette just feels more relatable to me. Now, would someone like to tell me which rock I’ve been living under that has hidden me from the icon that is Emily Bader? She made me go from having Poppy listed as my least favorite Emily Henry FMC, to wanting to be and live and love like her. Maybe I didn’t have an open mind when reading the book, or maybe Emily Bader understood Poppy differently than I did and portrayed her in a way that allowed me to see her more clearly.
While reading the book, I thought Poppy was (a little too) peppy and extroverted, but the movie showed me that she was just excited about life. She saw it as the huge blessing that it is and wanted to take advantage of it in every way she could. Poppy’s love for people and connection is incredibly infectious and something I think everyone needs a little more of.
Alert the media! Tom Blyth is perfect! Oh, wait… we knew that. But I will forever thank the casting directors for putting him in a rom-com. He was the perfect Alex; his subtle expressions and ability to act with his eyes helped him to capture Alex’s gentleness so well. Despite this, I think there was such a missed opportunity with his character. I have seen it all over TikTok, and I could not agree more: Alex’s character was so surface-level.
The best part about a book is that you have so much space to learn about a character and understand why they are the way that they are. With a movie, you have a lot less time to dive into the nitty-gritty and expand a character’s backstory. But in this movie, they barely tried. Poppy and Alex have their heart-to-heart in the motel, and we see him a little more during their tiff in Tuscany, but that’s about all we get. This movie could have been so much more impactful if we knew why Alex was so grounded in Ohio and had such a hard time letting go like Poppy.
However, that’s what makes reading so special. Rather than spending 90 -120 minutes with a character, you spend 8+ hours slowly forming your understanding of them and connection with them as the characters get to know each other, too.
MY FAVORITE THINGS
One thing I’ve always appreciated about Alex and Poppy’s love story is that it’s a true friends-to-lovers story. Starting all the way in their freshman year of college and continuing into their post-grad lives, they truly have seen each other through their best and their worst. Their most intimate moments together were when they were guiding each other through the depths of sickness, listening to each other’s most vulnerable stories, and, in the end, choosing each other because of their genuine love for each other. Don’t get me wrong, I love a classic romance with tension you can cut with a knife as much as the next girl. But in a world where that’s pretty much all we see, it’s refreshing to have a movie that reminds us that friendship is the best foundation for love, as Violet Bridgerton claims.
Without a doubt, my favorite vacation was New Orleans. I absolutely love the idea of lying to everyone about their “engagement” and taking full advantage of the city. I have never seen anyone pull off a blue bob like Emily Bader, and I was living for it the whole time. The dance scene? PLEASE. This trip felt like the true turning point in their relationship: they started thinking that maybe they could be more than friends. I will always mourn what could have happened if Julian hadn’t shown up (uninvited, may I add) and immediately broken the tension.
ONE LAST GRIPE
As we all know, the book/movie is titled People We Meet on Vacation. Something I remember deeply loving in the book (and we only saw this twice in the movie) was Poppy and Alex meeting new people on their vacations. In the book, these people felt way more impactful, teaching Alex and Poppy lessons that changed their relationship. Again, I know there’s a lot less time to explore those connections, but seeing more of these instances, or at least deepening the importance of these characters, would have been such a fun element to the story and showed the importance of these vacations.
THE FUTURE OF THE EMILY HENRY Cinematic UNIVERSE
Honestly, I think this was a very strong start for these adaptations, and I have lots of hope for what’s to come. Of course, Emily Henry is totally reading this, so my biggest piece of advice would be, if the plot changes as much as this one did, to give some more love to the characters and their back stories. I think 75 % of people connect to books because they can see themselves in the characters, and Emily Henry is so loved because she can write such real characters that people deeply relate to, so cutting their story in half, even if it is the male main character, is doing the audience a disservice. But I believe in you, Emily! I am so thrilled for the next adaptations, and yes, I will be back with more reviews!