It Ends with Us

                Based on the number of books that Colleen Hoover sold with It Ends With Us, I might be one of the few people on earth who has not read it yet. I do, however, see a lot of movies, and for the last few months, you could not miss the trailer for the movie version of Hoover’s novel, even if you tried. I mention this because there will be two different groups of people watching Justin Baldoni’s adaptation of Hoover’s book: those who have read the book and those who have not. These two groups will also have different opinions on what they see, so with that said, here is mine from someone who, as I said before, has not read the book.

Lily (Blake Lively) has returned home to Maine for her father’s funeral, but she seems to be carrying an indifferent vibe regarding her father’s death. Her mother, Jenny (Amy Morton), has asked her to write a eulogy, but Lily has not been able to and has even had problems writing five things she loved about her dad. After the funeral, she sits on a random rooftop where she meets Ryle (Justin Baldoni), who arrives on the scene with a fury. Lily and Ryle start talking, and of course flirting, but circumstances prevent anything from happening. Lily moves on with life and starts to make her dream of owning a flower shop come true. It is when she starts getting the store ready that she meets Allysa (Jenny Slate), who wanders into the store looking for a job. Excited for the help, Lily hires her and soon realizes that Allysa is the sister of the man she met on that rooftop not long ago. A courtship begins, and soon Lily, Allysa, and Ryle are in what seems to be a magical romance. Lily’s past, though, is always present, and when signs appear, plus her finding her first love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar), Lily has some choices to make.

Written for the screen by Christy Hall from Hoover’s novel, Hall knows what to do and handles the sensitive material with care. Weaving Lily’s story might have been difficult, but Hall navigates Lily’s complications, which include her messy backstory, as well as one can. All of this is a deliberate setup, as Lily’s past shows a young version of herself (Isabela Ferrer) and a young Atlas (Alex Neustaedter) in a romance against the backdrop of her father abusing her mother. It Ends With Us moves at a measured pace, which gives its subject matter a more naturalistic feel, unlike the usual approach to spousal abuse in most movies.

It Ends With Us really does feel like something you would see on a daytime soap with its story. What keeps it from feeling cheap is the maturity with which that story unfolds. While the details might be a little more convoluted than some may like, Lively and Baldoni do a good job of selling the dialogue with some pretty authentic flair as they try to lift the source material from being an overblown melodrama. They almost succeed, and it is their performances, along with those of Ferrer, Neustaedter, and Slate, that give It Ends With Us most of its positive aspects. Also helping is Baldoni’s excellent job in shooting the film, adding everything I liked about the film back to the filmmaking itself and not just the material it is bringing to life. Ultimately, It Ends With Us did enough for me, and despite what feels wrong about it, it feels good to see something that plays on the screen with a better sense of realism than most movies that have traveled this road before.