Brett Haley gives actors room to make ordinary relationships appealing, including performers too rarely offered the lead. We like his warmth, but his films can ask their casts to compensate for thin writing.
Fi1m perspective
When Emily Bader and Tom Blyth make holiday companionship look easy in People We Meet on Vacation (2026), Brett Haley’s appeal is clear. He understands the pleasure of watching two friends edge towards a relationship without needing to disguise where they are heading. We warmed to the pair because their ease together made that prospect appealing, even when the script had given their friendship too little substance. The film is likeable but thin, and its reliance on the leads tells us both what Haley does well and where he needs to be firmer.
His interest in ordinary lives and relationships across generations was there in his debut, The New Year (2010). I’ll See You in My Dreams (2015) brought him wider attention, and his willingness to build films around older actors is worth valuing. Blythe Danner and Sam Elliott are among the performers he has given leading roles when such opportunities were scarce. The Hero (2017), written as a vehicle for Elliott, makes ageing and legacy its subjects.
Writing has been part of that work from the start, with Marc Basch among his collaborators. He brought music, family and growing up together in Hearts Beat Loud (2018). His later adaptations include All the Bright Places (2020), which continued his interest in romance.
With People We Meet on Vacation, the problem is how little the writing gives Bader and Blyth to build on across 116 minutes. Haley’s adaptation of Emily Henry’s novel gets by in patches on their agreeable presence, but friendship needs more substance if we are to enjoy that long a wait. We do not need a romantic comedy to surprise us with its destination. We do need the time spent getting there to deepen our interest in the couple, and here the leads work harder than the script. Choose it for the leads, provided easy company is enough for the evening.
Biography
Brett Haley is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born on 17 August 1983 in Danville, Illinois, and studied directing at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, graduating in 2005.
Haley made his feature debut with The New Year (2010). His subsequent films include I'll See You in My Dreams (2015), which he also wrote and edited, The Hero (2017), which he wrote and directed, and Hearts Beat Loud (2018), for which he wrote the screenplay. He has directed the Netflix adaptations All the Bright Places (2020) and People We Meet on Vacation (2026), as well as the miniseries Looking for Alaska (2019).
Haley is the brother of novelist Joshua Ferris.
