American actor and filmmaker, Justin Baldoni’s “It Ends with Us,” based on the novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover, hit theaters on Aug. 9. In the first week of its release, it grossed over $100 million globally. Baldoni not only directed but also starred in the film alongside Blake Lively and Brandon Sklenar.
The film is based on a best-selling novel of the same name which was published in 2016 and since then it has accumulated a number of awards. In 2022 it debuted at #1 on The New York Times best sellers list and won Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Romance in 2016.
Recently, drama surrounding the novel arose on multiple social media platforms, most prominently TikTok. People were starting to suggest that Hoover’s novel “It Ends with Us” was not actually raising awareness for domestic violence but instead was “romanticizing it.” People began boycotting Hoover and no longer reading her novels due to this.
Lively stars as Lily Bloom, the aspiring florist who just arrived in Boston, Massachusetts following the death of her father. Bloom was not close with her father due to his violent tendencies toward her mother while she was growing up. In the opening scene, Bloom meets Ryle Kincaid, played by Baldoni, on the roof of his apartment. When she first sees him he is blatantly violent, kicking a chair across the roof, but she instantly begins to fall for him once they start talking.
The movie is basically an abridged version of the novel. In a little over two hours, Baldoni encompasses the stages of a violent and toxic relationship and follows Bloom as she attempts to claw her way out of her mother’s destiny.
An issue that many people had with both the movie and the novel was the accurateness of its depiction of domestic violence in relationships. The New York Times published an article exploring what the movie got correct and incorrect about domestic violence.
Unfortunately, as someone who has read almost all of Hoover’s novels, the movie’s overall plot did not meet my expectations. Fans have been waiting for this movie for years, and it simply was not worth the wait. The movie cut out so many important parts in order to fit it into the time frame. The issue is, without these parts, the movie loses some of its weight and emotion.
Another issue I had with the movie was the casting. When reading this book, Blake Lively was not the image I created for Lily Bloom whatsoever. Lively did not look the part and also didn’t act as she did in the book. Lively’s mannerisms did not coincide with Lily Bloom’s. Lively tried to make the character reflect herself instead of embodying the character. In the novel, I loved Bloom. She was a likable character who was real and relatable. In the movie, I could not connect with Lively at all. To me, it just looked like Blake Lively playing yet another mediocre character. In addition, Bloom’s outfits and hair were simply terrible. Her hair was messy and knotted in every single scene. Lively dyed her hair red to fit the character of Bloom but it was considerably off-setting with her light blue eyes. The red hair did not look natural to Lively at all. Her outfits were ill-fitting and were genuinely atrocious.
On the other hand, I loved Baldoni as Ryle. He played the character well and looked the part too. Additionally, Sklenar is exactly what I imagined Atlas to look like. Baldoni and Sklenar were casted well and they both did an amazing job of inhabiting the character given to them.
Now, the soundtrack of the movie was sensational. Throughout the movie, we heard songs ranging from “My Tears Ricochet” by Taylor Swift and “Cherry” by Lana Del Ray to “Praise You” by Fatboy Slim. The wide range of music selection added a deeper sense of emotion to every scene featuring music.
“It Ends with Us” was not exactly the masterpiece that many fans, including myself, were expecting, but it was still worth watching if you want a good tear jerking romance to watch. In other words, if you read the book first, chances are you wouldn’t love the movie. If you are going in blind, happy watching, you might just love it.
