It Ends With Us | Movie Review • Ana's Attic Book Blog

It Ends With Us Movie Review

Starring Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni and Brandon Skelnar

Based on the book by Colleen Hoover

I went with a group of my book friends to see It Ends With Us on the first night it was out. We were all excited to see it even though a couple in the group hadn’t read the book. The theater was sold out except for the first two rows, so we all loaded up with popcorn and candy and headed into the theater. Only to walk into a wall of HEAT.

Apparently the A/C wasn’t working in the theater. It’s South Florida in August and we are a group of menopausal women! Everyone went to complain, but they didn’t move us or fix it, and guess what? Nobody left, and nobody regretted it.

I deliberately didn’t do a re-read of the book, I re-read it last in 2022 when It Starts With Us came out. I’m so glad I didn’t. My friend was sitting next to me and she had just read the book. She kept pointing out differences and similarities that I would never have remembered.

SPOILERS

They did a fantastic job bringing the book to life. My favorite interpretation was how when Ryle hurts her the first few times they don’t show it clearly on screen, so as the viewer I questioned if it actually happened or if it was just an accident, just like Lily did. But then when she finally faces it, they show the violence more clearly in her memory. I was a little disappointed at first when I saw the scenes. I thought they were trying to hide it a little too much until I realized the intent behind it, and it turned out to be my favorite part of the movie (along with seeing Colleen on screen).

The casting was amazing. It makes so much more sense that Lily is older, I mean there wasn’t a huge age gap in the book and he’s a neurosurgeon and not even a resident. The young Lily was cast so well that it was almost creepy how much she looked like Blake!

“What about you? What do you like?”

Brandon Skelnar was the perfect Atlas. I loved the sublety of his acting. The way his lines were delivered said so much more than the actual words! Justin Baldoni played such a complex character. You love him at first, then you want to hate him, but it’s not easy. His chemistry with Lily was there and he made the character come to life.

One big change from the book that I loved is that once they split up in the hospital Ryle is gone, seemingly not co-parenting, so Lily doesn’t have to worry about future abuse of her or her child. We know that divorce doesn’t stop abuse, especially in a co-parenting situation. But that also makes the next book, It Starts With Us, have even less of a storyline.

Behind The Scenes Drama

There is so much drama behind the scenes, and I don’t think the general public will ever know what really happened, and why Justin is promoting the film separately and nobody seems to be talking to him. But I think how the film is marketed may be one of the issues.

I saw SO MANY PEOPLE saying they thought it was a romcom, and I didn’t get it. I even argued a little online. If you watch the trailer, it’s pretty clear it gets ugly. But then I started watching some of the Blake Lively interviews and promos to see why people think that. She seems to change the subject when asked about domestic violence. She tells you to put on florals, grab your girls, and have a fun girl’s day. There is nail polish and other themed beauty products. She promotes her haircare line. Plus Ryan Reynolds did some of the promo for his wife and it was funny as hell.

*NOTE: I know it’s weird, but I have never seen Blake Lively in anything before, so I am not a fan who may be blinded by other roles she has played.

I saw a fantastic Colleen Hoover interview on the Today Show where she discusses how this story stemmed from her mother’s life, and how one of her earliest memories is her father throwing a TV at her mother. It was the perfect interview and made me cry. But when she promotes with Blake, or Blake and Brandon, it seems to be promoted as a lighter romance because Colleen isn’t really asked direct questions (and maybe she is a little star-struck?) and the interviewer isn’t asking the right questions.

Then you see Justin Baldoni do interviews, and he is always discussing the DV and he wears a pin for a Domestic Violence organization called NO MORE. His entire focus in every interview is the violence, while it seems like the women are promoting it as more of a romance (which it is with Atlas, but it’s so much more). Maybe it’s all deliberate, who knows? Justin seems very positive about the women involved in the film, even correcting people when they compliment the job HE did to say WE, but the women seem to avoid direct questions about him.

It’s sure being discussed a lot online. Rumors are spreading that Justin was abusive on set and made women uncomfortable. I take that as rumor because of the part he plays. He had to hire a crisis PR team to navigate that. I have seen that Blake made her own cut of the movie and they argued which one would get shown. Justin even says that Blake should direct the sequel. We will never know the truth, especially now that a crisis PR agency is involved.

The Down & Dirty

Hopefully, all the drama doesn’t take away from how wonderful the movie is and how important the story is. If it gets more people to the movies to see how seemingly good people can turn violent and maybe recognize themselves or a family member or friend, then they’ve done their job.

I highly recommend seeing the movie whether you read the book or not. It’s weird to say I enjoyed It Ends With Us because parts were hard to watch, but I did! I loved her young love with Atlas, I loved when she and Ryle started flirting, I loved Ryle’s sister, I loved how it was light and fun and sweet until it wasn’t. And I loved how it ended, with HOPE. Just like the books, as much as I liked It Starts With Us, I don’t think it is necessary to make that movie, especially if they have to replace Ryle. It, to me, is more of an extended epilogue than a story in itself, and I think the movie ended perfectly without the need for more.