Adapting a fan-favorite novel into a movie will always be a risky move for directors, especially when the fandom is die-hard. People We Meet on Vacation is a perfect example of this risk being taken and not really paying off.

Quickly establishing its excellency as a standout rom-com novel, People We Meet on Vacation was named a New York Times bestseller immediately upon its release. Subsequently, a cult-following was formed.

Fans of the book were able to find comfort in the relatable nature of its characters: Alex, a quiet, emotionally steady teacher, with some endearing traits of neurodivergency and Poppy, a bold, loud, and slightly socially awkward traveling writer. These two characters balanced each other out perfectly: Poppy was able to get Alex out of his shell, and Alex was able to ground Poppy when she let her emotions control her too much. Overall, these two characters and their dynamic love-interest was deeply nuanced, raw, and real in the books.

But, this is where we get to the movie adaption of this fan-favorite. At first, people were very excited to see this movie come out: it had their favorite characters, possible new scenes, and beloved recent breakout actors Tom Blyth and Emily Bader. However, shockingly despite all these qualities, this film very quickly was labeled as mediocre, another poor book to movie adaptation upon its release. The question you may be having is: Why?

My answer is: The same reason all other book to movie adaptations fail: condensing nuanced and layered literature into a 2-hour runtime significantly draws away from the story; crucial character development is often overlooked, important scenes are rewritten to be more digestible or shorter, and overall the plot ends up feeling rushed. Additionally, audiences often hope that with movie adaptations of books more substance will be included, however because of this compression, anything but surface level plot and occasional fun scenes (for engagement) are written out or not put in to begin with.

An example of this is found within the inner narrative we get to see for Poppy’s character. In the book, we get to truly peer into her anxieties, her avoidance of issues, and her insecurities. The same holds true for Alex’s character. Within the nuance of the original book, we get to see that Alex is not just some stereotypical love interest but instead a young socially-awkward man who is deeply insecure but ultimately kind, loving, and self-sacrificing (specifically for Poppy, for whom he is willing to break his very overly routined life for). The movie simply is unable to capture this complexity in its portrayal of Alex.

To conclude, although it showed much promise, People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, ultimately falls into the same category as its predecessors: “Lost In Translation.”