10 Best Movies Like People We Meet On Vacation

Now that the holiday movie watching season is behind us, we look towards the next season of holiday-influenced pop culture: It's time to start planning out which rom-com classics to revisit yet again, and which underrated Valentine's Day movies you need to watch in the lead up to it. And as if there weren't already enough to pick from, Netflix kicked off 2026 with a new original rom-com that could very well become a new classic.

Called "People We Meet on Vacation" and based on the 2021 book of the same name by Emily Henry, it follows two close friends whose platonic relationship slowly turns romantic over a series of vacation-based adventures. It's a charming — and surprisingly layered — romantic comedy about how we sometimes look everywhere for true love except for right in front of our face. It's well worth a watch if you haven't seen it yet. And if you have, you will surely find yourself yearning for more movies of that same ilk.

Well, we've got you covered there. The main thread running through these recommendations is that most are stories of two people who have known each other for years, but for one reason or another never came to the obvious conclusion that they should be a couple — often realizing it when coming back together after a period of estrangement. 

Like the main characters of "People We Meet on Vacation," Joon-soo (Lee Seung-gi) and Hyun-woo (Moon Chae-won) of the South Korean rom-com "Love Forecast" are old friends. Only in this case, that friendship goes all the way back to childhood. Now, Hyun-woo is a weather reporter whose fame owes much to her beauty and charm, while Joon-soo has become a teacher. Joon-soo has always had a crush on Hyun-woo, but she consistently rebuffs any notion of them becoming more than friends — hitting him with the old "I just don't see you that way."

That is, until she does. But even though the romantic feelings are finally becoming mutual between the two, the question becomes whether the differences that have kept them as just friends all these years can be overcome in the name of love. It's a very charming little movie, quirky in all the fun ways that Korean comedies typically excel at. If you're a rom-com fan who hasn't yet ventured into the Korean entries into the genre, "Love Forecast" is a great place to start. Even apart from its "People We Meet on Vacation" similarities. 

Technically, the two leads of "This Time Next Year" haven't been friends for years. Or even known each other long. However, their paths did cross at the literal beginning of each of their respective lives — they were born in the same hospital, only minutes apart. Not only that, but Minnie (Sophie Cookson) has blamed all of her misfortunes on the fact that Quinn (Lucien Laviscourt) narrowly beat her to take home the prize of being the first baby born in London on New Year's Day 1990 — which resulted in her mother no longer going with the planned family name of Quinn, but naming her Minnie instead.

After Minnie spent 30 years being bitter towards someone she never even met, she meets him at a New Year's Eve party. In talking, they put together the pieces that reveal not only their shared origin story, but the fact that luck has indeed seemed to favor Quinn. And speaking of luck, Minnie and Quinn can't seem to stop running into each other after that first meeting. Eventually the sparks fly in this sweet love story. Sure, all the coincidences that had to happen for their love to bloom stretch credulity a bit — but it is a rom-com, after all. 

While "People We Meet on Vacation" sees the main characters fall in love over a series of vacations and road trips, "Plus One" takes a similar approach — but one that centers on weddings, specifically. As seemingly everyone in their friend group (except for them) are pairing off and getting married, still-single pals Ben (Jack Quaid) and Alice (Maya Erskine) decide to become one another's dates to the various weddings they are invited to, so that they don't have to go alone. Well, it's easy to see where things are going, isn't it?

Even so, "Plus One" isn't just the story of a couple falling more and more in love at each wedding they attend together. Everything is heightened at and around weddings, everything is stressful and chaotic, there's a lot at stake, and there's a lot of alcohol. So, Ben and Alice definitely take some steps back for every few they take forward. But it's impossible not to root for them, especially given the wonderful chemistry of its main leads. There's no question that Quaid is the son of rom-com queen Meg Ryan, that's for certain. 

At the center of "Drinking Buddies," the 2013 mumblecore rom-com centered around a Chicago brewery, are two of the brewery's employees — Kate (Olivia Wilde) and Luke (Jake Johnson). They are really close friends that have a lot in common, but begin the movie in other relationships that prevent them from acting on their underlying feelings for one another. But even when Kate is dumped by her boyfriend, Luke is still seeing Jill (Anna Kendrick) so the door isn't automatically open for him and Kate. Even so, lines are crossed, which only makes things more complicated.

"Drinking Buddies" was filmed without a script, with only the main story beats plotted out in advance. Being able to improvise the dialogue made the interactions between the characters feel much more natural, as well as a lot more awkward — but it was supposed to be awkward between Kate and Luke, as they navigate their complicated situationship. That aspect really helps set "Drinking Buddies" apart from a lot of other rom-coms, where the snappy retorts and poetic proclamations are sometimes a little too polished and perfect. Also, the cast took advantage of filming at a brewery, leading to a movie set that was one big party. 

"Always Be My Maybe" is another movie about two people who were friends as children trying to have a romantic relationship as adults. Only, in the case of Marcus (Randall Park) and Sasha (Ali Wong), it wouldn't be the first time they ever gave dating a shot. They actually tried it in their teen years, but it did not go well. In fact, it went so poorly that they stopped speaking to each other entirely for over 15 years.

When they do reconnect, it isn't immediately smooth sailing. But soon enough, they are able to not only become friends again but are even willing to give it another shot as lovers — that is, if Keanu Reeves doesn't get in the way. Reeves has a hilarious cameo as himself, vying for Sasha's attention. 

As it turns out, the reason Keeves was cast in "Always Be My Maybe" is because Park and Wong — who also co-wrote the movie — were trying to think of who would be the most threatening dating competition they could think of for a man. They came up with Reeves and the star was up for it, adding another gloriously funny element to this already hilarious rom-com romp.

Despite the bad reputation that romantic comedies often get — and the eagerness at which a lot of actors try to get off the genre wheel once they are on it — several rom-coms place high in the ranking of every Julia Roberts movie. One of those is "My Best Friend's Wedding," another story about longtime besties who one day decide they actually love one another and should become a couple. Well, Julianna (Roberts) decides that about her pal Michael (Dermot Mulroney). He, on the other hand, is not sold on the idea — in large part because he's already engaged to and planning his wedding to someone else.

Initially, Julianne tries to make Michael's fiancée, Kimmy (Cameron Diaz), her enemy. And she, of course, assumes Kimmy is all wrong for Michael. So Julianne plans on stopping the wedding and telling Michael he should be with her instead. Sounds like it's pretty obvious where all of this is headed, but luckily, "My Best Friend's Wedding" doesn't necessarily make the obvious choices and it actually treats the people outside of the main couple like human beings with real thoughts, feelings, and agency. Spoiler alert — the movie definitely has a happy ending. It just might not be the one you were expecting. 

Once again, we have childhood best friends who, one day, have that moment where at least one of them realizes their feelings aren't entirely platonic. For the male lead of "Love, Rosie," that moment occurs on the 18th birthday of the titular character (Lily Collins) who kisses her best friend Alex (Sam Claflin) at a party. For Alex, it brought the realization that he had a crush on Rosie. But for Rosie, the whole night was a drunken blur that she wished never happened. Alex took that to include the kiss — not knowing that Rosie actually didn't even remember the kiss.

So back into the friend zone they went. And that zone is where they stay for a surprisingly long stretch of the movie, equating to at least 10 years passing for the characters, to the point that you might not know why "Love, Rosie" was even on this list to begin with. Well, not every romantic dramedy necessarily needs the lead couple to get and stay together in the end to be worth watching. Not that we're saying they don't get together again, either. This is where we say to just watch "Love, Rosie" for yourself — and you definitely should, if you were a "People We Meet on Vacation" fan. 

Of all the movies on this list, "Past Lives" is the only one that isn't a rom-com, or even a romantic drama. It's almost the latter, to be fair, and it's one that once again involves following two people from a relationship of childhood friendship toward an attempted love as adults. It's also the only film here that is a multiple Oscar nominee, not only for best original screenplay but even best picture. So, the lack of lightness and laughs should be more than made up for by its undeniable quality.

Ambitiously spanning 24 years, we follow Nora (Moon Seung-ah as her child version, Greta Lee as an adult) and Hae Sung (Seung Min Yim child, Teo Yoo adult) as they drift in and out of one another's lives. When circumstances finally stops getting in the way of them being able to be in the same city at the same time, Nora is already married to someone else. But her husband, Arthur (John Magaro), can't help but wonder if he's the roadblock in the way of Nora being with her true love. Even if he is, real life isn't always so simple, and there is sometimes more to consider than just who had your heart the longest. 

"Love & Basketball" is certainly one of the best basketball movies ever made. But that only represents half of its title, and further, about a third of what the movie is actually about. And what it's about are two childhood friends named Quincy (Glenndon Chatman) and Monica (Kyla Pratt) who quickly bond over their mutual affection for shooting hoops. They do eventually share a kiss, but otherwise, they are just friends.

The movie then checks back in with the two of them at several more milestones of their life — first high school, then college, then adulthood. Along the way, Quincy (Omar Epps) sometimes likes Monica (Sanaa Lathan) a little more than she likes him, or vice versa. That, or the progression of their respective basketball journeys is further along for one than it is for the other, which complicates their relationship. They ultimately both earn individual successes at basketball. It's just a matter of whether they can also be successful at love. More to the point, with one another. 

In his review for Looper, Alistair Ryder called "People We Meet on Vacation" a "Gen Z 'When Harry Met Sally.'" It's a fair assessment, and it definitely makes the two movies a pretty fascinating double feature as way to see how two different generations of filmmakers, actors, and audiences tell a similar story. But that's not to say "People We Meet on Vacation" is a straight remake of "When Harry Met Sally." 

The two movies differ in several ways, not the least of which is the fact that "When Harry Met Sally" is definitely the better movie. No disrespect to "People We Meet on Vacation" — "When Harry Met Sally" is just one of the best rom-coms of all time, period. We see Harry (Billy Crystal) and Sally (Meg Ryan) go through pretty much every phase that two people can go through. Sometimes they are friends, sometimes they are lovers. Sometimes they are allies, sometimes they are enemies. 

For much of the movie, they are in the grey area between any two extremes. But there's a reason that they can't ever quite seem to quit each other, even if everyone sees that reason but them — until they finally do, in one of the all time great final scenes to grace the genre of the romantic comedy.