Movie Review - It Ends with Us

Director: Justin Baldoni
Genre: Drama/ Romance
Runtime: 130 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, Kevin McKidd, Hasan Minhaj
 
Description: When Lily’s (Blake Lively) first love (Brandon Sklenar) reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon (Justin Baldoni) is upended and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 51: A FILM FROM A GENRE YOU DON’T WATCH THAT OFTEN
 
Review: With more than twenty-million books sold, Colleen Hoover is one of today’s best-selling authors. No wonder Hollywood is eager to adapt her books into films. The first one is “It Ends with Us”.

Meet Lily Bloom, who decides to move to Boston after a traumatic childhood. There, everything seems to be going for her. Not only does she open her own flowe shop, on the roof of an apartment building Lily meets Ryle with whom all the boxes really can be checked off. Ruggedly attractive, sweet, solid job. The two start a romance that makes the sparks fly. But then Ryle turns out to have a dark side. And just then Lily runs into her childhood sweetheart Atlas.

If I have to believe Colleen Hoover fans, director Justin Baldoni (and also the actor portraying Ryle) was very faithful to the book. I never read it, nor will I ever read it. And after seeing the film, I’m sure I never will.

Even though I have nothing but praise for Blake Lively’s performance, the story just felt off. Somehow I saw red flags with Ryle from the start (not knowing the details of the plot yet). I have never experienced any form of physical abuse myself, but somehow I don’t believe that someone suffering from it herself, or at least witnessed it up close, would see signals of it earlier on in their relationship. And I don’t feel like Ryle is such a catch, even before his dark side really surfaces. I found him very creepy from the moment Lily met him. It’s also very clear from the start, that Atlas is actually the man Lily is supposed to be with. And even though I like Lily’s friendship with Allysa, the way they become friends feels very unrealistic.

Fans of the book will love this movie, and I’m so happy for them. It’s always a wonderful thing to see a favorite book being turned into a movie, that is actually following the book closely. I’m not the right audience for this film. I know Baldoni tried to make a film with such a heavy theme with a lot of respect. And it’s not his fault that the story feels so wrong, because it’s the source material. Which follows a very toxic relationship, a relationship you know is wrong. And this film was marketed poorly, selling it as a romance to go see with your girlfriends, when it’s actually a drama about domestic violence. The film hints at a sequel, since there is also a second book. But it does not look like there is going to be one.

Rating: 2/ 5