The following is going to sound like an insult, but it is said with nothing but affection: when it comes to literature, there are very few groups more devoted to the craft than those who follow young adult and romance fiction, to the point where it can border on obsessed, in the best way possible. These are simple stories that tend to inspire a deep, sincere passion, and while there will always be detractors who feel like this genre is lowbrow and cheap, the success of these books and their eventual film adaptations has proven their staying power, despite their simplicity. Considering he has made his career from small, intimate character-driven films, it seemed inevitable that Brett Haley would find his way to the genre, which comes in the form of People We Meet on Vacation, an adaptation of the novel by Emily Henry, which has developed quite a strong following and has now been brought to life on screen. The story centres around Poppy and Alex, two best friends who have a long-standing tradition: every summer, they go on vacation together. Initially entirely platonic, the two prove to be unexpectedly strong companions for one another. This is until they begin to develop feelings for one another, made more complicated by the fact that they both have partners in their lives, but deep down knowing that they are each other’s true soulmates, leading to some awkward but revealing situations. If this premise sounds derivative, it’s because that’s exactly what it is, with People We Meet on Vacation being the kind of low-stakes, simple romantic comedy that doesn’t do anything unexpected. However, while this would usually be grounds for celebration, since we always have to appreciate a film that manages to be entertaining without purporting to redefine the genre, it’s impossible to praise it entirely, since the film falls apart from the beginning, despite the strong work of both the director and some of his cast. A predictable, uninspired and frankly lazy attempt at drawing audiences into an already very basic story that is not done any favours by its lacklustre writing and unexpected incoherence, the film does nothing to capture our attention, and proves to be one of the more frustrating entries into an already oversaturated genre.

People We Meet on Vacation is nothing if not predictable, and this begins at the foundational level with the story being told. Simplicity is not something to dismiss, but we do find that this is not a film with particularly high ambitions in any way. While we can perhaps appreciate some of its more understated elements, this is not a film that wants to be all that unique, which is somewhat understandable but still slightly underwhelming. The story revolves around a relatively straightforward premise, and evokes some extremely familiar themes in the process – two people who see themselves as nothing but friends, and who choose to prove that a man and a woman can be close friends without it becoming romantic (which we know is an unimpeachable truth, but which this film treats as questionable at the best of times), which is gradually dismantled as they realise that they do deeply love one another, despite their self-imposed restrictions. This is a solid story, even if it can be quite conventional – and there’s very little being done throughout this film that persuades us to see it as anything more than this, despite there being a few gaps that could’ve led to interesting commentary, but which are entirely overlooked. Arguably, a large part of this is the result of the original novel, so we can’t begrudge the film too much, even if we do find ourselves wishing it would be a bit more adventurous. Unfortunately, there’s only so much that can be done with this premise, but it does prove to be quite charming at times – it’s in the moments where it doesn’t actually take the opportunity to develop on these ideas where we begin to get frustrated. Haley is not someone who is known to push boundaries – all of his films are charming, consistent blends of comedy and drama, with healthy doses of romance thrown in when required (the trio of I’ll See You in My Dreams, The Hero and Hearts Beat Loud are all tremendous), so it is unfortunate to see that he has to restrain himself even more when working with this story, which could’ve been so much more effective had he been given more free reign to explore these themes.

The primary problem with People We Meet on Vacation (and trust me, there are several) comes down to the writing. For some reason, this relatively simple novel necessitated at least three screenwriters to bring the story to life, which is far too much for this kind of film. I tend to be more lenient on these matters (since we can’t ever truly know what happened during the writing process), but it is very evident that this is not a film that has any real interest in consistency, which is why it ultimately functions as a garbled attempt at cobbling together just about every cliche related to the genre, without even an iota of thought put into the final product. It is almost laughable the extent to which the screenwriters go to touch on every possible convention, which unfortunately reflects in the three key areas: the dialogue, the character development and the plot structure. Many similarly themed films can get away with being weaker in one or two of these areas, but People We Meet on Vacation somehow manages to fail to deliver on any of them. The stilted dialogue, delivered with such incredible conviction by the actors, resembles a low-quality melodrama, while the plot progression is conventional down to the smallest detail – we can predict where the film is heading within the first five minutes, which means that absolutely nothing in this story is even vaguely surprising. Naturally, you’d imagine there would at least be a memorable dynamic between the characters to keep everything afloat, but this, too, falls apart at the seams, with the most obvious stereotypes being scattered throughout the film. It’s almost a staggering achievement to see just how far this film goes to succumb to the same obvious tropes that plague the genre. Oddly enough, the film does feature remarkably stylish direction, with Haley proving that he has a strong visual approach – it was just ultimately squandered on a story that had very little interest in actually putting in even an ounce of effort into absolutely anything.

We can criticise a film for wasting the talents of its actors, and even lament how little they are given to do. It’s much more rare to actually feel deep, sincere sympathy for a performer having to be put through the process of making a film, but this is once again another area in which People We Meet on Vacation falters. What makes this an even more disorienting experience is the imbalance in the quality of the performances, particularly from the leads, who are here portrayed by Tom Blyth, who has already staked a legitimate claim to be one of the best actors of his generation, and Emily Bader, who is not quite there yet. The problem is that there is absolutely no chemistry between the leads, which means that there is very little that can be done to convince us that these are two people falling in love, since the screenplay does nothing to assist. Despite their best efforts, neither actor is doing particularly good work, and we can see it reflected in their performances, which are formed from the most obvious, surface-level stereotypes imaginable. Blyth is a good enough actor to develop Alex as more than just a brooding, overly serious young man, but even he has limits when it comes to working with such a mediocre screenplay. Bader does not fare quite as well, since while she has an inherent charm, she’s handed a character without any real personality, a jumble of every quirk observed by a team of screenwriters who seem to write these characters by their closest approximation rather than actually putting any real effort into making her seem memorable. For some reason, veterans like Molly Shannon and Alan Ruck, as well as other very promising young actors like Sarah Catherine Hook, Lukas Gage and Miles Heizer, are coerced into the supporting cast, being given dialogue so tacky and overwrought, it’s almost humiliating to see them speak it, since we would at least hope someone would have realised that they deserved better. It’s a good cast wasted to the point where we actually pity them, and a deep resentment for the people who cast them but failed to actually give them anything to do.

I have often rebelled against the constant scorn directed towards young adult and romance stories, since there are many examples of these works being very effective, especially since they can be wonderful opportunities for pure, unadulterated escapism. However, when it comes to a film like People We Meet on Vacation, we can understand the occasional derision, especially when we can so easily see where everything went wrong. It is always so clear when a film like this is trying to evoke classical canonical works in the effort of being the new version of a particular subject for the younger generation, but unfortunately every attempt to be When Harry Met Sally in the 21st century that we find in this film falls short, since the premise may be similar (in fact, it covers so much shared thematic territory that it feels almost identical, both structurally and in terms of intentions), but it lacks any of the charm, nuance or humanity, to be successful. It’s a hollow film that misleads us into thinking that it’s an entertaining diversion, when in reality it’s a tacky, one-dimensional attempt at a romantic comedy that claims to be enjoyable, but proves to be almost entirely bland, never achieving anything even close to the deep sincerity that we would hope to find in such a film. The cast does their best, but they’re limited by a lacklustre screenplay, and while the direction is solid, it isn’t memorable enough to actually achieve anything notable, ultimately just being wasted to the point of frustration. People We Meet on Vacation is a bad film, and represents everything that’s wrong with the modern version of this genre: lazy writing, mediocre character development and a complete apathy towards any kind of recognisable human behaviour. Mainstream romantic comedies are becoming a parody of themselves, and this film features some of its worst traits, and somehow fails to deliver even the slightly amount of nuance, becoming a deeply forgettable and frankly entirely frustrating affair in every way.