'People We Meet on Vacation' is a heart-warming tale of love and adventure

Last year, around this time, Netflix’s blockbuster to kick off 2025 was “Back In Action”, which saw Cameron Diaz returning to our screens alongside Jamie Foxx.

For January 2026, the global streamer gambled on “People We Meet on Vacation”, its brand-new comedy drama.

With its interesting cast, which features heartthrob English actor Tom Blyth and “My Lady Jane” star Emily Bader in the leading roles, as well as a quirky and emotional tale told through multiple exotic locations, this film offers some sweet escapism as you ease into the year.

While it won’t be walking away with major awards and won’t go on to redefine the genre, some genuinely heart-warming moments will tug at your heartstrings.

The chemistry between the cast, which also includes Jameela Jamil, “Emily in Paris’s” Lucien Laviscount, Sarah Catherine Hook and Molly Shannon, is electric. They had me laughing, almost crying and completely enthralled by this story.

“People We Meet on Vacation” is directed by Brett Haley from a screenplay by Yulin Kuang, Amos Vernon and Nunzio Randazzo, based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Emily Henry.

What truly elevates this movie is that it is told across a span of nine years, with time jumps during different summers in the lead stars’ lives.

It introduces viewers to 30-something Poppy Wright (Bader), a New York City travel reporter who has always dreamed of living her best life around the world. A once exuberant writer with a zest for life, Poppy has grown bored with her constant life on the move.

From Prague to Kyoto, she struggles to balance her personal life and, while she enjoys world-class amenities at the best hotels across the globe, Poppy is lonely and yearns to share her exciting life with a special someone.

As her editor, Swapna Bakshi-Highsmith (Jamil), encourages her to push past writer’s block and rediscover her spark, Poppy is reminded of her friend’s upcoming wedding in Barcelona, Spain.

With her busy lifestyle, she has completely forgotten about the ceremony, although she is in a rut and in need of fun with loved ones. Poppy is reluctant to attend the nuptials as her friend’s brother, Alex (Blyth), happens to be her former best friend.

We come to learn that this opposites-attract duo met at college and formed an unlikely friendship over their shared love of travel. At the time, Poppy was a complete yapper whose constant talking irked Alex, a rigid introvert. Initially, they struggle to get along, with Poppy’s free-spirited and spontaneous nature clashing with Alex’s routine-loving ways.

However, an unexpected road trip nine years before the events of the wedding sees the pair agree to become travel buddies, meeting up every summer in a different location.

The first place they visit together is Canada, where Poppy insists they wing it in the wild. Alex is reluctant, but they end up having the time of their lives. It becomes evident that Poppy helps Alex get out of his head and live in the moment, while he teaches her the value of a more structured and disciplined approach to her chaotic life.

“People We Meet on Vacation” then jumps three summers after the Canada trip to the pair partying it up on the streets of New Orleans.

By this time, Poppy has more of an itinerary for the trip but still prefers to go with the flow, while Alex - thriving in his studies - is more relaxed but still somewhat stiff. As usual, the trip sees them bonding as they escape reality with the intention of “being whoever you want and doing anything you want.”

Their friendship is solidified on a deeply personal level when Poppy is too ill to join Alex on a trip to Norway. He decides that summer, a few years after the New Orleans trip, to also skip the European adventure to nurse Poppy back to health.

They spend a week in her Big Apple apartment, with Alex cooking and caring for her as she recovers.

However, a vacation to Italy just two years before the events of Alex’s brother’s wedding in Spain reveals how the pair became estranged, bringing their travel adventures - and their formidable friendship - to a halt.

In the present tense, as Poppy and Alex reunite in Barcelona, the question remains whether they can repair their relationship and if the sparks between them can result in romance.

“People We Meet on Vacation” is filled with themes of love, friendship and adventure that people from all walks of life will be able to relate to. It is warm, charming, funny and well worth a watch.

* I give it three out of five stars.