📺 Rom–coms are a dime a dozen, and not too many stand out — People We Meet onVacation? Definitely an exception. A screen adaptation of US author Emily Henry’s summer 2022 hit of the same name, the movie is a breath of fresh air for the genre and had us glued to our screens.

Opposites attract? Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) aren’t off to a good start when they decide to carpool to their hometown from campus for summer break. Poppy is loud, obnoxious, and painfully extroverted — everything Alex isn’t. A slew of preventable disasters turns the hour-long road trip to a days-long adventure, and they start warming up to each other. One conversation leads to another, and they both decide that come every summer, they’ll take a vacation together.

For a while, all seems well. As the movie alternates between the past and present, we come to realize that two summers prior to the events of the film, something horrible happened between Poppy and Alex — something Alex, now a travel journalist, is steadfast on fixing with one last Odyssey in Barcelona, where Alex’s brother just so happens to be getting married.

This is a romance done right. The film’s a slow-burn and traces the pair’s history across 10 summers, building up to the final summer that makes or breaks their friendship. From cinematography to soundtrack, dialogue to settings, People We Meet on Vacation is a masterclass in the modern-day rom-com — one that reinstilled our belief that perhaps the genre hasn’t died out. The casting is absolutely on point, with both Blyth and Bader delivering performances oozing with chemistry.

WHERE TO WATCH- You can stream the film on Netflix. Watch the trailer on YouTube (watch; runtime: 2:38).

Tags: