The Number One Movie On Netflix Is a Rom-Com That Is Dividing Viewers
Is the age of the rom-com back? After Materialists divided audiences over its various romantic comedy tropes in 2025, it seems that mainstream, unapologetic movies in this genre are making a play for viewers' eyeballs. In fact, for the first time in a while, a brand new rom-com is the number one streaming movie on Netflix, period. That movie is People We Met on Vacation, starring Tom Blyth, Sarah Catherine Hook, Emily Bader, Lukas Gage, Lucien Laviscount, Alan Ruck, Miles Heizer, Molly Shannon, Jameela Jamil, and Alice Lee.
But should you watch it? Here's why People We Met On Vacation is dividing audiences.
People We Met on Vacation's Rotten Tomatoes Score
Currently, People We Met on Vacation holds a 75 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 78 percent from the general audience. This is down several points from hits debut score at 89 percent, when it first hit Netflix on January 9. This means that the reviews are good, but not great. And, many of the reviews are pointing out that the very popular 2021 novel of the same name by Emily Henry doesn't quite translate into the breezy movie.
"If you put this on on a weekend afternoon, you will be fine," NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour wrote. But, they pointed out, "... things that made the book special, I think, are almost impossible to preserve in a two-hour movie." On the flipside, Slate pointed out that the connections to the book are also the problem, writing: "Everything that annoyed me about Book Poppy [the character played by Emily Bader] gets so much worse in this movie."
Should You Watch People We Met on Vacation?
The best case to be made for watching People We Met on Vacation is to view it as a date night, Netflix and chill type of movie. Don't expect the most brilliant thing in the world, or even something as thoughtful as Materialists. But, for a direct-to-Netflix movie that delivers on the premise in its title, People We Met on Vacation is fine. And in a world of things that are straight-up bad, fine, is actually, refreshingly, good.