Emily Henry\u2019s hit book has been adapted into a glossily made yet charmless attempt to resurrect the friends-to-lovers formulaReleased just as the weather turns to freezing and we\u2019re all daydreaming of an escape, Netflix\u2019s early January romcom People We Meet on Vacation is at the very least smartly timed. Produced as part of the streamer\u2019s Sony deal, it benefits from some real studio gloss (proper lighting!) and as Polo & Pan\u2019s perfectly balmy Nana plays over a transporting shot of our heroine lounging on a beach (the song was also used in Netflix\u2019s underrated Christmas romcom Let it Snow), I was ready to relax with her. But what a brief escape it turned out to be \u2026The adaptation of Emily Henry\u2019s much-loved 2021 novel has the superficial trappings all in check (eyes with permanent twinkles, unrealistic main character job in this climate, more easily affordable Taylor Swift song on the soundtrack) but no heart or soul to go with it. There\u2019s simply nothing to root for or care about or grasp on to, just the limp tracing of something we\u2019ve seen many many times before. Its closest comparison would be When Harry Met Sally, a similar journey that turns friends into lovers over a fairly epic time span (the pair even meet in the exact same way, forced to drive home together from college). But what felt lived in and genuinely human back in 1989 now feels shallow and synthetic in 2026, a grim start to the year for a genre I keep hoping and praying for. Continue reading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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