Pop Culture Happy Hour - People We Meet On Vacation and What's Making Us Happy

Episode Date: January 9, 2026

The new Netflix rom-com People We Meet On Vacation is about best friends Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) who have gone on annual trips together since meeting in college. But there's always been something between them that's not quite platonic, and reconnecting at a wedding just might bring it to the surface. Based on the beloved Emily Henry novel, the movie’s got travel, banter, and even kissing in the rain. But does it capture the charm of the book?Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureSee pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

She's a free spirit. He's a planner. They become best friends, take a bunch of trips together, and find there might be something more between them. Those are the simple outlines of the very beloved Emily Henry romance novel People We Meet on Vacation. And now the book is a movie on Netflix. It's got travel, it's got banter. It's even got kissing in the rain. But does the movie capture the charm of the book? I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about people we meet on vacation on pop culture happy hour from NPR. Joining me today is Waylon Warren. She's the co-host of NPR's Daily Economics Podcast, The Indicator from Planet Money. Hello, Waylon. Hi, Linda. Also with us is the former host of Slate's Internet Culture Podcasts. I see Y.M.I. And former Pop Culture Happy Hour producer Candice Lim. Hello, Candice.

Hello. It's so good to see you both. People we meet on vacation tells the story of Poppy, played by Emily Bader, and Alex, played by Tom Blyde. They were once best friends, but they were once best friends. they had a falling out, and now they're about to see each other again at his brother's wedding. As she looks ahead to seeing him, Poppy looks back on some of the annual trips they've been going on together since they met and became friends in college. We see them go hiking, we see them go to New Orleans, to Tuscany and to Barcelona for their big reunion. While they've always

been just friends and while they've both had other partners along the way, there's always been something between them that's not quite platonic, and reconnecting at a wedding just might bring it to the surface. People we meet on vacation is on Netflix now. Whalen, I'm going to start with you. What did you think about this adaptation? Okay. Well, I will start with what I liked, which is I liked the ending, and I really liked the two actors. They were really doing it for me. But overall, I was disappointed, and I've read the novel. It's not my favorite Emily Henry, but I do really enjoy all of Emily Henry's books. So I was excited about this one. And it felt oddly inert to me.

Like this movie never quite achieved that cruising altitude. It never really had that kind of effervescent quality that you want from a really nice rom-com and that sparkly quality that I think is present in the novel and in all of Emily Henry's novels. You know, the novel has some pretty solid themes to explore, in my opinion. And I felt like the movie reduced a lot of what makes the book. interesting to kind of cookey lady with quirks plus some shenanigans. And it felt very generic. And that was disappointing because I think what I really wanted is specificity. And I think the book does give you specificity. And that somehow got flattened out in this adaptation. So that was a bummer to me. Yeah. All right. Candice, how about you? Waylon.

So basically, this was one of my top three most anticipated films of the year. Because people we meet on vacation was the first Emily. Henry book I ever read. It's the first Emily Henry book I ever loved. I read it while on vacation when my house also had like an air conditioning problem. And so when I watch this movie, everything looks right. Like I like the two leads. I love Emily from my lady Jane. You know, the colors are pretty. The music is good. The story technically follows the book. And yet, Waylon, I stand with you. I have to admit that I am disappointed. And I feel so strongly that like, if you're really tied to the book passionately, I need to prepare you. There are a lot of little changes that, to me, change the dish completely.

Because, look, you are allowed to change an adaptation between book and film. If it has author support, which this one does, great. If it elevates the material like The Shining and the Stephen King novel, amazing. However, the reason I'm upset is because the book itself is dialogue. It is line, line, line, it's quippy. It's great as it is. You produce the movie in your head. So I'm not really sure why you would change it if it already sounds like a script.

That's kind of where I'm at. And even though there are things I love and there are things that are kind of charming about the film, I can't get rid of this feeling. I'm just like, why did you have to change? Like, little things like, beginning of the book kind of has this when Harry Met Sally Omage of like they start at University of Chicago. They take this road trip. They hate each other and then they become friends.

Right off the bat, they go to Boston College. And I ask someone who went to Boston University, I'm like, hold on. I'm triggered. already. So that's kind of where I'm coming from. I do have a guess about why, because I agree with both of you about a lot of what happened in adapting this book. I think this book should have been like an eight episode limited series. Really? I was thinking about this too, whether I wanted it as a mini series. The reason I think that is the way Emily Henry writes, and I really like her stuff too, and the way that she writes is she builds up relationships over little, little bits. And

you get line, line, line, line, and very gradually relationships develop as people have, as you kind of both talked about, these really natural conversations. She's a really good writer of dialogue. And I think because they are trying to cram it into this relatively short, and listen, this movie is two hours line, which is long for a movie like this. And I think you can see how they're struggling to fit in all the business that she does really well in the book. And I think what you get is very condensed. And they're trying to sort of to quickly get to the point of every scene that they're doing. And unfortunately, when you try to go directly to the point, you wind up cutting out a lot of what develops the relationship. Because to me, when you go from them being in the car and not liking each other, and then they sort of get stuck

and they're stuck overnight, and they have like one nice conversation and then practically the next thing you see is they're going on a trip together. And it's like, wait a second, how did we get here? Right. It also made it. it even more frustrating to me when they added in stuff that isn't good, that isn't in the book. Yeah, like added nothing. You know, they have Alan Ruck and Molly Shannon playing Poppy's parents. Doing like nothing. Alan Ruck has this conversation with Alex playing Poppy's father.

And it's one of these conversations where one person thinks they're talking about sex and the other person thinks they're talking about something else. And because everybody talks in this incredibly unnatural way where they don't use any words, they're supposedly going along and one person's saying like, it sometimes just goes down. Sure, that can happen sometimes. But you're young guy. So the chances of that happening to you are slim. As you get older, then it increases and that could be a problem. Young, young guy, you can't let it affect your confidence.

It's not really about my confidence, though. I just don't want to die. Why would you die? Do you have a heart problem? You would not talk about a plane like that. And it's so like modern family coded too. I watched this and I thought to myself, listen, Emily Henry would never. Emily Henry would never.

She wouldn't. And that scene, like, you could have plucked it out and put it in any other generic direct-to-streaming rom-com. And it wouldn't really have made a difference in this movie and some other movie. It's just so generic. It has nothing to do with the story. Nothing. Linda, you're completely right, which is that, you know, the reason I like this book is because I genuinely remember reading it and really not knowing if they would end up together at the end. There was this mystery. There was this thriller. I know it's kind of a romance novel, but I kind of also didn't know. I think the issue with marketing this movie is that you have to say up front, it's a rom-com. And the second you say that, you know, that they're going to end up together at the end. So by kind of sacrificing that mystery for like all these little things, that kind of takes away from the fun of it all. But also, something I notice is that, you know, A lot of Poppy and Alex's communication in the book, a lot of the way that they kind of build their friendship, especially long distance, is over text messages.

I'm not seeing any text messages in this movie. And I don't know if I would love it or hate it. It's just something I noticed in the connective tissue that I wish was there. I think we're talking about the same thing, which is that all of the little pieces that gradually build up a relationship like this, this is when people wind up falling back on things like a montage and stuff like that. And it's difficult to do. But without it, it feels very. choppy and I think particularly also his character seems to be one thing at the beginning and then very quickly is something else. At the very beginning of the movie, there's kind of a real focus on

this idea that he's sort of a little bit of a stick in the mud. But then kind of very quickly, that goes away and that doesn't, that's not really a continuing element so that later when she's talking about it, like when she was talking about him as like a person who always needs a schedule or whatever, it doesn't really feel like that's been the guy that they've necessarily shown us. I don't know. I felt frustrated by that. I think that like the joy of the novel in terms of what it explores, it's less for me in the suspense of will they get together or not. But I think what's nice about the novel is you get to know Poppy as someone who has this job where she's a travel writer and she travels because she feels like she can be some more ideal, winning, interesting version of herself on vacation, right?

And then, like, the big learning is that Alex is home for her and that, you know, like the people we mean on vacation is ourselves or whatever, right? Which is like a little silly, but it's actually very nice. And I think there's a lot to explore there. And they don't really do this in the movie. It's like they don't even understand what the central premise is. And then they never show Poppy at home, really. So you only get her vacation self. You don't get a contrast with like whatever home self she's unhappy with.

And so therefore you don't see any growth with Poppy. You don't see what is it about vacationing with Alex that makes her life so much richer and special. And I'm like, where did all of that go? Yeah, yeah. I mean, first off, Wayland, I'm now realizing you hate this because there's no cruise, huh? As a cruise head, you're like, put me on a boat. Yeah, I wanted a bottle of. episode. That's right. So I think location is actually like one of the reasons why I'm so frustrated with this. You know, this is a movie about people who literally go to different destinations every summer, all this stuff. We have this present vacation that is happening in Barcelona. And then they flash back to like eight summers ago, whatever. In the book, it takes place in Palm Springs. And the reason why Palm Springs is kind of this perfect place is because Palm Springs is kind of this last resort, final destination. It is the key west of the west coast. It's this.

kind of a signal that you are closing some doors on your lives. And to me, that was like a metaphor for how this is Poppy and Alex's like last chance to save their friendship. So the stakes are so inherent in the place you were setting it. By putting it in Barcelona, I was like, oh my God, you're losing so much context and heat and like stakes when it was set in Palm Springs. And so it's those little things that I just get caught up on because I'm like, what do we miss when we sacrifice those things for what?

Going to Barcelona, which was it even Barcelona? I don't know. I don't know. I mean, according to the press notes, they did. Okay. But I don't think they used Barcelona very much or very well. It could have been anywhere. It could have been Kansas City.

A lot of it felt like it could have been anywhere. And I want to be really clear that, like, I'm not saying that in order to be good, this movie has to be like the book. What I'm saying is that when you take a book that is built out of a bunch of elements and you take out a lot of it and you don't figure out a way to compensate for what you're losing, then you're, you know, then you're you. then you end up with something that it's not fulfilling its original mission sort of. You can make a really compelling movie that's just people talking to each other and falling in love. That's what before sunrise is, right? But you can't crowd it with quite this much incident, you know, and you have to make sure that everything follows everything else. I also got to say, it's really frustrating to me that screenplays continue to have, for example,

the thing where somebody says, don't worry, everything's going to be fine. There's no way it's going to rain. Smash cut to pouring rain. This movie does that bit twice. And so twice I sat there thinking we're about to cut to the thing the person just, yep, there it is. And there's a couple other things like that where I just thought, these are just things that seem to have developed as screenwriting ticks that you don't need. It's just not. not necessary. And the book has such, her writing has such a grace to it, I think, in handling stuff like this. That's why people love it. And it doesn't really come through here. I agree. And I think that your typical romance novel has often that third act complication, right, where like they get together, something happens, some kind of misunderstanding or some obstacle where they maybe break up briefly or aren't getting along. Then they get back together. And to your earlier point, Linda, about pacing and how things were condensed in kind of a strange way with the movie, they still needed to shoehorn in a complication.

So they have this completely arbitrary argument where it doesn't seem like anything the characters are saying are very much in character. They're just being very rigid with each other for seemingly no reason. So that just happens. And I'm like, uh. Compare this to heated rivalry, right? Compare this to, you know, that adaptation. of a romance novel. If you have several episodes in that case six, could be six, could be eight, could be whatever,

you get a lot more time to let the tension and the relationship kind of go back and forth. You have time for sort of this is how these people's feelings are evolving and everything. I don't think heated rivalry would have to work as a two-hour Netflix movie. Right. Because again, and what they have in common is there's all these different time periods and you're sort of you're going through a lot of incident to get to where you want to get to in the end. Like you guys said, the leads are appealing. If you put this on on like a weekend afternoon, you will be fine.

It is pleasant to watch. But the things that made the book special, I think, are almost impossible to preserve in a two-hour movie. Yeah. Yeah. And just to give a mouse a cookie, I will bring up two things I did love, which is first, there are some supporting actors in this that I did not. see coming that I did squeal at. This is Lucas Gage.

This is Sarah Catherine Hook from White Lotus. The big one for me was definitely Lucy and Lavis Count from Emily and Paris. I was like, oh my God, Alfie! I squealed, I squealed. I said, Alfie, Elfie! Should we talk about the Paula Abdul of it all? Yeah, that was interesting. Yeah, so basically there's this kind of like unwritten by Natasha Bettingfield,

anyone but you kind of theme, where they keep playing Paula Abdul's forever your girl. And I actually think there is a scene where they are dealing. dancing to it in New Orleans that I did love. That I was like, okay, rising tension. This is great. I will say, though, my favorite scene of this entire film, basically, it's Poppy descending down the escalator to go to baggage claim, and she's listening to Hang With Me by Robin,

and she does this thing that I did not expect where she sings the song out loud to no one. And for some reason, I found it really charming. I rewatched it. I liked it. And then I'm going to fly in you. And then a diner bye and a box to dunt you. If it has. She was wearing a really cute outfit in that scene too.

Yes. And I have those headphones too. So I was like twins. She is very cute in that scene. And I think as the movie goes on, I felt like at the very beginning, I felt like she was a little bit too like, I'm quirky and have a big personality. And I was like, all right, all right. Tone it down. Tone it down, ma'am.

And I think she settles into it a little bit over the course of the thing when you get a little more of that, like her on her own. Yeah. I agree. But do you ladies feel like the. manic pixie dream girl archetype is just beyond overcoct at this point well I think part of the problem is that I talked a little bit about feeling like his character's

flattened out a bit I think hers is flattened out a bit too and the problem is if you take this very high energy character and you don't sort of do the more slow build and the more like textured making it easier to understand why these people like each other then yes you start to be in archetype world where she's just constantly on at like an 11, if not written carefully. Yes, that can go a bit manic. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. So I think we're all maybe a little bit disappointed by this movie, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have its charms. So tell us what you think about people we meet on vacation. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash pchahj and on Letterbox at letterbox.com slash NPR pop culture. We'll have a link in our episode description. Up next, what's making us happy?

week. Now it's time for our favorite segment of this week and every week. What's making us happy this week. Waylon, what is making you happy this week? What's making me happy is the last novel I read in 2025. It's called Girl Dinner by Olive E Blake. It is about a college sorority that partakes in some light cannibalism. Please don't run away screen. I just saw Linda's eyes go as wide as dinner plates. This novel, it's told from the point of view of two new conversations. a student who's recruited into the sorority and then a professor at the college who's asked to be the faculty advisor. And this novel is like pretty wild. It's pretty dark, as you can tell from the premise, but it's not punishing.

I found it to be pretty sharp, very funny, very enjoyable, a bit of a romp, but a dark romp. And I would especially recommend it if you read the novel Daughters of Eve by Lois Duncan as a kid. If you know, you know, I think they would make very good companion read. So my recommendation is Girl Dinner by Olivey Blake. Nice. All right. Thank you very much, Waylon. I indeed did widen my eyes.

So it's always good to have your perspective expanded. All right. Candice, what is making you happy this week? All right. Heated rivalry fans, I need you to clock in. I need you to pull the car over to the side because what's making me happy is all the things she said by Harrison. Linda, I see you're in the club. You're in the club.

And you're thinking, you're thinking about Ilya. I see you. No comment. Yern. So, this song is a cover of all the things you said by Tattoo. That version plays in episode four of Heated Rivalry, which is a show about two hockey players who are in love, but they're secret. And this is the scene where Shane and Ilya, they're at the club. They realize they're both at the club, but they're dancing with other people.

And then it kind of like cross fades into the Harrison remix, which just absolutely bumps. And I am playing the song every day because I'm. I am suffering. I am suffering from withdrawal. This show ended like a few weeks ago. And I can't do more than like rewatch the show a seventh, eighth time. Therefore, I must take it to the car. I must play it in the shower. I'm playing it in the microwave. I can't stop. It's my personality. And I just think it's a great song to like run into 2026 with. That's what's making me happy. All the things she said by Harrison. All right. And if you still have not caught up with heated rivalry, it is on HBO Max. You can watch it on there. I recommend it. Get on it. All right. What is making me happy this week? In a stressful moment in history, I need a certain amount of what I think of as easy television.

Just absolutely asks me for nothing, wants nothing more than to just please and entertain me. And so I bring to you news of Best Medicine, a new show on Fox, which is an American adaptation of the show Doc Martin, which is very beloved by many people and many people's parents, I would say. It stars Josh Charles, not mad at that. Beloved of Dead Poets Society, Sports Night, the Good Wife, many other things. Here he is playing a grumpy surgeon who moves to a small town in Midcoast, Maine, my favorite, to be the town doctor. Does it have little bits of Doc Hollywood, the Michael J. Fox movie that I love?

It does. that movie. Does it have a hint of Northern Exposure? It absolutely does. If you love Doc Martin, this is not Doc Martin. Just understand that. In fact, his name is Dr. Best, and it's called Best Medicine, and that is hilarious and shameless in a way. Does it fill the whole left by my beloved Dr. Odyssey? No, it does not. Oh, Dr. Odyssey. R-I-T. It's not nearly bizarre enough for that, but it does go down easy, and I appreciate that very very much. Best medicine. It's on Fox, so you can find it like on Hulu. And it just started. That is what is making me happy this week. If you want links for what we recommended, plus some more

recommendations, sign up for our newsletter at npr.org slash pop culture newsletter. That brings us to the end of our show. Waylon Wong, Candace Lamb. Thank you so much for being here. This was fun. Thank you. Thank you. This episode is produced by Liz Metzger and Kayla Latimore and edited by Mike Katzv. Our showrunner is Jessica Reedy. Hello, come in, provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Linda Holmes and we'll see you all next week.