When I turned off Netflix after watching “People We Meet on Vacation”, I felt…nothing. And coming from someone with infamously many opinions (if you keep up with the High Tide, you should know this), that was extremely significant. I guess I was stunned by its mediocrity and its failure to reach my impossibly high standards of rom-com. It was okay, I guess, but undeniably Netflix. Yes, I mean that as an insult.

In “People We Meet on Vacation”, Poppy and Alex meet by coincidence at college. Poppy is extraverted and loves bright clothes, and Alex is quiet, rule-abiding and loves a white tee. Against all odds, they become best friends. The story takes place over ten years, with Poppy and Alex living far apart but seeing each other for one vacation a year. Here, the first issue presents itself: they do not, in fact, meet each other on vacation. But that’s beside the point. The story switches between the present day and flashbacks to different years, from their college adventures together to their successive vacations. 

The story was actually really inventive and engaging. The “only meeting once a year on vacation” storyline was a nice break from the meet cute, fall in love, break up, be angry, New York City journalist plot that I’ve been getting bored of. The vacations were amusing and introduced multiple settings to satisfy my attention span. I am compelled to add that the plotline did not follow the book’s plotline exactly, and it did bother me. The changes felt purposeless, like changing the university that Poppy and Alex met at and combining two distinct vacations into one. I don’t think keeping the movie to strictly follow the book would’ve saved it from its mediocrity, but we will never know. 

Here’s one of the drawbacks, though. Poppy was everything, and Alex was so…meh. I read the book, so I know that he’s supposed to have at least some mystique. Maybe that’s the wrong word. But whatever, he is supposed to be at least a little bit intriguing. But Tom Blyth in this was just so bland. I feel like every scene with the two of them would have been just as engaging if Poppy were the only one there. He didn’t captivate me, which is kind of his only job. His only redeeming scene was the dance scene. In order to understand that reference, you’ll just have to watch it. 

A controversial point that I myself am very conflicted on is Poppy’s outfits. On one hand, they were atrocious. On the other hand, they represented her bubbly, fun, wacky personality perfectly, and any other costuming would not have done her canon weird personality justice. It did feel a little corny at times, but upon reflection, it’s a little bit fun and cute. 

Besides its mild Tom Blyth drawbacks, the movie was pretty fun. It was an alright casual watch, but it was still undeniably Netflix. That is to say, I will not be rewatching it as I do for “10 Things I Hate About You” or “Notting Hill.”