It’s been approximately one week since the first adaptation of an Emily Henry book hit streaming services. Though People We Meet on Vacation is still my least favorite Emily Henry book (though Great Big Beautiful Life was not far from taking the spot), I was still a little excited about watching the adaptation and oh boy… I have some thoughts (and SPOILERS).
The Facts
Duration: 1h 49m
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: January 9, 2026
Distribution: Netflix
The Cast
Poppy Wright is played by Emily Bader. An icon. Legendary. Perfection.
Alex Nilsen is played by Tom Blyth. Played his part beautifully well, especially since he had to do an American accent.
Swapna Bakshi-Highsmith is played by Jameela Jamil. Such perfect casting; I literally can’t think of anyone else who would kill the role.
Sarah (the on & off ex) is played by Sarah Catherine Hook. I do not vibe with this casting, and I feel kind of bad saying that because the actress’ first name is Sarah.
Buck is played by Lukas Gage. This was an interesting choice…
David is played by Miles Heizer.
Poppy’s parents are played by Alan Ruck & Molly Shannon.
The Bad
“Bad” is a little harsh of a word but… ya know.
At first, post-production did really well with coloration and using text to show the difference between the time jumps, but it got a little muggy a couple of times. The consistent time jumps are part of why I hated the book, and I needed the differentiation because they didn’t do too well making present-day & nine years ago Poppy & Alex look different/younger. This is especially true for Emily Bader. Poppy did not look college aged when they were taking the road trip to Linfield, Ohio.
Speaking of Linfield, Ohio, they breezed over Grandma Betty dying. Like, why was Poppy so upset? She says, “I know we haven’t talked a lot in the last couple of years, but you should’ve told me about Betty.” If Betty is so important, why didn’t we meet Betty in one of the time jumps?
Another thing that felt like an incomplete thought: “The famous Poppy pouf.” Alex brings this up while trying to fix Poppy’s air conditioning in her Barcelona hotel/Airbnb (I don’t know what it was). However, when we take the time jump back to the New Orleans trip, the origin of the pouf, it doesn’t get brought up. In fact, Poppy is wearing a blue wig. Is that the pouf?
They also breezed (so fast!) over the Norway trip. Unlike the book, we don’t really get the understanding/lore behind it being their favorite “trip.” It’s probably one of my favorite parts of the book, which says a lot because there wasn’t much.
Overall, there were moments where it lacked emotional depth and the necessary backstory to understand what made the characters who they are, especially since they’re polar opposites. They kind of blew past Alex’s mom dying. Everything I found unamazing about the movie can be described with how I feel about Poppy’s apartment. Poppy’s apartment was way more depressing than I pictured, even though she’s a world traveler, but dang.
The Good
Poppy’s parents were probably the best part of the movie. Molly Shannon is literally perfection. Poppy’s dad confusing Alex’s nerves about flying for nerves about having sex was comedic gold. Poppy’s dad saying, “Why would you die? Do you have a heart problem?” and “Drugs and condoms… our work is done here” was delivered perfectly.
The dance scene is another favorite scene of mine. Part of it is because of the bartender and his facial expressions. Another part is because of Tom Blyth breaking it doooown (the hip thrusts… the worm… the smiles!!!).
The Emily Henry cameo next to Emily Bader… I love em’n’em.
A complete aside to everything: I love seeing the Emily Bader parallel memes about her in People We Meet on Vacation and My Lady Jane, which I have yet to finish. This image is not the exact meme I am talking about, but it holds the same energy.
I agree with the majority of the internet who say it’s a decent standalone but is very lacking compared to the book, which is often the case with book to movie adaptations. We’re missing the entire explanation behind why it’s even called People We Meet on Vacation.
“How about we die alone together?”
– Alexander the Greatest
(the name Alex is in Poppy’s phone)
