It Ends With Us Review

It Ends with Us is a romantic drama based on the bestselling novel by Colleen Hoover. This film looks at the turbulent nature of romance.

Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) is a woman who plans to fulfil her dream and open a flower shop in Boston. She also gets to meet Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), a good-looking neurosurgeon and he falls hard for the florist. As their relationship blooms, Lily reflects on her teenage relationship with Atlas (Alex Neustaedter).

In recent years Hollywood has become more interested in established properties and focused on making tentpole movies. This has led to Hollywood having problems with 2023 and the early months of 2024 having many box office bombs and hyperbole responses saying cinemas are dying. It Ends with Us which shows that there is still life in cinemas since it has already made a profit from its $25 million budget and been popular with female audiences. There’s still a place for lower-to-mid-budget theatrical releases.

Whilst It Ends with Us offered a positive case for lower and mid-budget studio films, the film in question was a middling offering. I am not a part of the target audience since It Ends with Us was a click-lit novel turned into a click-flick. It was a story about a toxic relationship and domestic melodrama that felt like a Lifetime TV film with better production values. It Ends with Us which was presented in a frothy, mainstream manner with bright cinematography, glamorous locations in Boston, Lily’s picturesque hometown, and a soundtrack filled with soft pop songs. There was a montage when Lily and her new friend/employee, Allysa (Jenny Slate) cleaned the flower shop that made me think of Family Guy when Peter saw Autumn’s Piano. There were also a fair number of romantic montages in Boston, or at least in the city doubling for Boston.

I’m English and stories about domestic abuse tend to be grittier and hard-hitting. There’s the famous storyline in Eastenders where Little Mo was abused by her husbands, and films like Nil by Mouth and Tyrannosaur. They didn’t flinch from the subject matter like violence and psychological manipulation. In Eastenders case, it was trying to raise awareness on the subject. It Ends with Us did show some warning signs like Ryle having a temper and he was gaslighting Lily since she had a friendship with another man. However, the first strike against Lily could be interpreted as an accident and Lily did describe herself as an unreliable narrator.

Domestic violence casts a long shadow over many of the characters in the film. Lily’s mother (Amy Morton) was abused by her father (Kevin McKidd), which led to Lily hating her dad and vowing not to be a victim like her mum. Atlas was made homeless because his mother was abused by her boyfriends and he suffered at their hands. It Ends With Us did show domestic violence as a slow escalation, from the first hit to much more disturbing actions. However, the film doesn’t show abusive relationships to be a persistent hell for Lily. The film had a simplistic view on the subject.

The film had a strange message about persistence. Ryle was able to wear Lily down by going to her place of work and telling her how much he thinks about her. It was lucky that Ryle was good-looking because his romantic gestures could be seen as being creepy. Adult Atlas (Brandon Skleanar) also made an unannounced visit to Lily’s place of work because he was concerned for his old friend. Their actions seem to counter the film’s message against toxic relationships.

The story did have some big coincidences. Characters were able to meet up by chance despite geography or the passage of time. It did make It Ends With Us seem a bit silly, but even classic literature, like the works of Charles Dickens have a certain level of contrivance. It would be hard to give It Ends With Us a demerit on this point.

It Ends With Us did make some changes from the source material. One of the biggest was aging up Lily who was 23 in the novel. However, aging the character made it more believable that Lily could become a small business owner in Boston. There was a line of throwaway dialogue where it was said that Lily had a job in the big city so hinting that she would have had to save up to fulfil her dream.

On a final note, the casting of Isabela Ferrer as the young version of Lily deserves praise. Ferrer looked a lot like an older counterpart, she even had a beauty spot on her cheek. Ferrer did match Lively’s mannerism and it was a convincing impression from the young actress.

It Ends With Us was a film that had a noble intent to raise awareness about domestic abuse, but went about it in the wrong way due to the presentation and taking liberties with the realities of the issue.