In love with your best friend? More rom-coms like People We Meet On Vacation

The scenario goes like this: you have known each other for years, since elementary or high school, you went through your first mischiefs, first loves, and first nights out together, no one knows you like your best friend does. And then, suddenly and without warning, some new, intangible feelings appear. A little more awkwardness, silence, and longing in the air. Are you just friends, or is there something more?

When People We Meet On Vacation,the film adaptation of Emily Henry’s 2021 novel, was released on Netflix a few days ago, I noticed a smug cynic within myself. How many romantic comedies have there been that deal with this clichéd theme? But when I started researching, for the purposes of this piece, a list of films built around the friends-to-lovers motif, I realized that I had watched absolutely all of them. What’s more, their lines are still living rent-free in my head.

So if you have watched People We Meet On Vacation and are looking for similar films to warm up and indulge those cold January days, below is a list of my favorites.

When Harry Met Sally (1989)

A timeless classic, When Harry Met Sally sits high on the list of the most beloved films about friends who fall in love. How could we forget quotes like “I’ll have what she’s having!” and “When you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.” At its core, the film starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan explores the question of whether men and women can truly be just friends, or whether love is always inevitable.

Plus One (2019)

In this romantic comedy, longtime college friends Alice and Ben are faced with the fact that ten weddings await them in the near future, millennials, do you relate, so they strike a deal to be each other’s “plus one.” Alice has just come out of a long-term relationship and needs emotional support, while Ben is perpetually single, so obsessed with finding “the one” that he ends any relationship that does not seem to have long-term potential. And then, somewhere around the fifth wedding, the inevitable happens. Ben and Alice realize that the person they are looking for might already be sitting right next to them. But can it really work?

Single All the Way (2021)

Everyone has their guilty pleasure movie, and this is certainly mine. Peter brings home his longtime best friend Nick, presenting him as a fake boyfriend, but soon abandons the idea when his mother sets him up on a date with a handsome spin instructor. Still, the rest of the family is clearly far more aware of what is really going on than Peter himself. With all the predictable tropes we love, this is a holiday film and the perfect excuse to extend that vacation feeling just a little longer.

Friends With Benefits (2011)

This 2011 rom-com classic pairs Mila Kunis and Justin Timberlake as two strangers who consensually enter a no-strings-attached relationship, convinced they can enjoy each other’s company without emotional complications. However, as it usually goes, boundaries gradually begin to blur, feelings develop, and their story turns into a romance simmering beneath the surface.

Past Lives (2023)

Written and directed by Celine Song, this film explores the Korean concept of inyeon, the belief that encounters between people are not accidental but the result of countless connections from past lives. The story follows childhood friends Nora and Hae Sung, who are separated when Nora’s family moves from South Korea to the United States. When they meet again years later as adults, they are faced with the question of what might have been if they had not built their lives apart. The film does not follow a classic friends-to-lovers structure, nor is it pretentious or overly dramatic. It will simply lead you to nostalgically and gently reflect on your own unrealized “what ifs.”

One Day (2011)

Before One Day became a popular Netflix adaptation, there was the film starring Jim Sturgess and Anne Hathaway as Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley. After first meeting on July 15, 1988, the two decide, upon finishing college, to remain “just friends.” The film follows them on that same date every year as they grow up and drift apart. While Dexter revels in the life of the rich and famous, Emma struggles to find her footing in London’s literary and publishing world. Although life takes them in different directions, they never fully stop being part of each other’s world. Every reunion shows how much they have changed, yet their connection remains the only constant throughout the decades to come.

To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before (2018)

Based on the bestselling novel by Jenny Han, the film follows Lara Jean Covey, played by Lana Condor, after her private love letters are accidentally sent to all the boys she has ever had a crush on. Among them is Peter Kavinsky, played by Noah Centineo, her longtime friend and her sister’s ex-boyfriend. Their fake relationship slowly turns into something real. Positive reviews and the success of this film opened the door to a new generation of Netflix love stories, such as Never Have I Ever.

Love, Rosie (2014)

Do you remember Lily Collins before Emily In Paris? Nearly a decade earlier, she starred in a film about childhood best friends Rosie and Alex, who go through the ups and downs of growing up. However, one brief shared moment, one missed opportunity, and the decisions that follow send their lives in completely different directions. As each of them navigates the complexities of life, love, and everything in between, they always find their way back to one another with the unspoken question. Is it just friendship, or something more?