Cast: Emily Bader, Tom Blyth
Director: Brett Haley
Rating: ★★.5
Adapted from the best-selling novel by Emily Henry, People we meet on holidays It comes with the kind of underlying goodwill that most romantic comedies would die for. It’s bright, sunlit, comfortably familiar and completely aware of the style it inhabits. Released in the winter, the film clearly wants to serve as a warm-weather fantasy – a soft-focus reminder of beaches, bad decisions, and better times. What it doesn’t quite manage is turning that familiarity into emotion.
At its core, this is a romance that knows exactly where it’s going and makes little effort to pretend otherwise. The problem isn’t predictability — romcoms thrive on it — but rather how dutifully the film goes through the motions that we’ve seen executed with more intelligence and emotional texture elsewhere.
The story follows Poppy, a travel writer whose globe-trotting career is beginning to seem emptier than a postcard, and Alex, her polar opposite: inert, cautious and content with a small circle of life. After meeting in college, the two make an annual pact to vacation together every year – a ritual that spans nearly a decade of missed opportunities, confessions and romantic affairs. When they reunite for the wedding after a long separation, the film shuttles between past visits and the awkwardness of the present day, building toward a conclusion that no one in the room suspects.
Good
The biggest quality of the film is its simplicity. The chemistry between the leads, while never electric, is gentle enough to keep things watchable. Their dynamic works best in quiet moments — shared glances, little jokes, silences that suggest a deeper familiarity than the script earns. There’s undeniable polish to the way the film looks, too: sun-drenched locations, postcard-ready frames and a color palette that screams escapism. A handful of supporting performances briefly inject life and humor, hinting at a sharper film lurking somewhere beneath the surface.
bad
For a story built around travel, the film is oddly curious about place. Cities fade into the background, experiences seem interchangeable, and wanderlust is more implied than felt. Structurally, the constant switching back and forth in time adds clutter without deepening the character, and the central conflict – why these two people don’t choose each other sooner – feels increasingly contrived. Writing relies heavily on romcom shorthand: opposites attract, emotional avoidance, clarity of the third act. What should feel lived-in feels put together instead.
Decision
People we meet on holidays Enjoyable, competently made and largely hollow. It offers comfort without consequences, romance without real pain, and travel without discovery. For a lazy watch, this works. For more than that, it never leaves the departure gate.