At the beginning of January, over 17.2 million people traveled to Ohio, Squamish, New Orleans, Tuscany, Barcelona, and New York. And the best part? They were able to do it all in under two hours, without leaving their homes.
People We Meet On Vacation (2026), the first novel by Emily Henry to be adapted to a film, follows the friendship between Poppy (Emily Bader), a journalist for travel magazine R+R, and Alex (Tom Blyth), a PhD candidate and high school teacher. It’s clear from the beginning that there was a falling out between the two that caused a rift in their relationship—although viewers are unsure of how they got there. The story is told through time jumps and the vacations that Poppy and Alex shared leading up to their conflict, ultimately leading audiences to the present day at Alex’s brother’s wedding, where they are forced to confront their inner conflicts and feelings for one another.
As a fan of the book and avid lover of romantic comedies, the film is one of the best rom–coms I have seen within the past couple of years. The movie successfully plays into beloved tropes like friends to lovers, second chances, time jumps, and grumpy/sunshine (where an upbeat and optimistic character is able to melt the heart of a more serious and pessimistic one), which creates a wholesome, lighthearted, and satisfying story. The characters read incredibly well on screen; as Poppy’s outgoing and bubbly personality shines through, Alex’s more nuanced and cautious qualities ground them. Additionally, the chemistry between Blyth and Bader is electric—their dynamic is perfectly balanced and they complement each other incredibly well throughout the film, allowing for audiences to fully invest themselves in the characters’ relationship.
However, my positive opinion seems to stand alone—especially amongst those who have previously read the book. BookTok, TikTok’s online community for readers and book lovers, was quite critical of the film. While scrolling I discovered thousands of disappointed fans complaining about the plotlines and elements that the producers added, changed, and removed in the film, which prompts the question: How closely should movie adaptations be considered in relation to their original books?
Differences between the novel and the movie could be as simple as the location of a destination wedding or as consequential as removing layers of dimensions and depth from a main character—not to mention the heavily altered relationship dynamic between Alex and his on–and–off girlfriend, Sarah (Sarah Catherine Hook). At first glance it may seem like self–sabotage for a film to change so much, but by sacrificing these elements, the most important aspects of the source material could be preserved. In an interview conducted by Variety, Henry and director Brett Haley acknowledge the logistical difficulties of filming a movie in terms of shooting in specific locations, crew logistics, and budgeting; films don’t have as much creative leeway as books do. They have to work with the budgets and resources that production companies provide, whereas novels have limitless capacity to become anything the writer desires.
This limitation can be seen in the decision to cut the portion of the book when Alex and Poppy finally get together following an iconic love confession (which they decided to keep, thankfully). While readers have a couple of hours to let the relationship between Alex and Poppy develop and grow in the form of more vacations and time with the characters, the book’s slow burn romance simply cannot be recreated when limited to a tight two hours.
Despite these financial limitations and time constraints, the movie and the book still aided one another in marketing and promotion. The novel returned to the New York Times Best Seller list and Amazon Book Charts, and its audiobook listens on Spotify increased by 515%. Similarly, the film itself performed incredibly well, with high numbers of streams on Netflix and a successful press tour that appealed to both book readers and fans, thanks in no small part to the cult following that Henry and her novels have among BookTok readers.
It's not that producers, directors, and Henry didn’t want to honor the original story by removing and changing things from the novel, rather they thought more justice would be done to the story by prioritizing its main elements—and that comes with sacrifice. From raw and revealing conversations between Poppy and Alex to longing stares in Norway to the film’s moving conclusion of Poppy running after Alex despite her hatred of running, the heart and soul of the novel was very evident in the film, even if scenes weren’t exact replicas of those in the book. The film highlights everything that makes the novel special: yearning, friendship, love, home, family, and, most importantly, quirky and lovable characters.
Movie adaptations don’t need to carry over everything from the original novel. At the end of the day they’re for different audiences, and while a story’s preexisting fans are the ones who bring it to the big screens with their love for the novel, it’s the new audiences that breathe a new life into it. Although it’s difficult to separate the two bodies of work, it is essential for audiences to give movie adaptations grace for limitations outside of their control—it's this mindset that may just be what brings BookTok and on–demand viewers together.
