Blake Lively stars as a woman forced to re-evaluate her life in Justin Baldoni’s romantic drama. Here’s our It Ends With Us review.
It Ends With Us is based on Colleen Hoover’s book of the same name. The book, published in 2016, has become a major global phenomenon, and the film adaptation might very well push Deadpool & Wolverine off its first place at the box office this weekend.
We first meet Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) as she’s heading back to Maine for her father’s funeral. She’s due to give a speech, say nice things about her father, but finds herself unable to. Instead, she runs back to Boston and meets the dashing Ryle (Justin Baldoni) on a rooftop. Ryle is a successful neurosurgeon and there’s an immediate attraction between the two. Their romance is complicated by the return of Lily’s high-school sweetheart Atlas (Brandon Sklenar).
From that alone, you might dismiss It Ends With Us as a schmaltzy, cheesy film about a love triangle between unrealistically beautiful people. Films like that are always difficult to grasp onto, because they’re intended as utopia, a fantasy. And that’s certainly what I went into It Ends With Us expecting.
As someone who hasn’t read the book, I wasn’t prepared for how dark the story would be. Ryle’s behaviour becomes increasingly violent as the film goes on – which isn’t a spoiler, it’s part of the very premise – and It Ends With Us reveals itself to be a film about abuse and the strength it takes to leave an abusive relationship.
Lively’s career has somewhat been overshadowed by the success of her husband Ryan Reynolds, but Lively is on excellent form here. She injects Lily with a lot of warmth, making her an instantly likeable protagonist and Lively is by far the film’s greatest asset. Her performance is supported by a spirited turn by Jenny Slate as Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister Allysa.
Director Justin Baldoni also appears as Ryle, but both he and Sklenar can’t quite carve their characters into real, complex human beings. While Lively’s Lily seems to have more to her than what we’re seeing, the two men are defined by the story beats, which makes them seem thin and uninteresting. Baldoni’s direction is riddled with the same glossiness that coats the characters. Every time It Ends With Us scratches the surface of something real, Baldoni pulls back and reverts to your usual romance tropes.
Baldoni’s filmmaking can be rather clumsy too. One shot boasts the Greene King logo on a pub door prominently despite the action being set in Boston. Lily’s home is rarely explored as she quickly moves in with Ryle, but the characters lack a sense of grounding. It Ends With Us constantly showcases the differences between autumnal Maine and the vibrancy of Boston, but there’s no real sense of time or place and the characters seem to just float in this strange universe without anything tying them down.
Baldoni is more confident in handling the abuse storyline. It Ends With Us never adopts a gritty way of portraying it, but the scenes are cleverly constructed as Lily comes to terms with what’s happening. It’s in these scenes that the film flourishes, but it’s hard to say if it’s simply a happy accident or real mastery.
It Ends With Us has a lot more substance than you’d think, even if it often lacks ambition. It’s slightly too long; you can get away with more rambling storytelling in a novel, but in a film, it comes across as indulgence. Lively’s committed, warm performance just about elevates things enough for the film to be memorable.
It Ends With Us is in cinemas 9th August.
