It Ends With Us – Movie Review
First Reaction – It Ends With Us is a messy message on an important subject.
Director: Justin Baldoni
Writer: Christy Hall (Screenplay)
Writer: Colleen Hoover (Book)
Cast
- Blake Lively (Green Lantern)
- Justin Baldoni (Jane the Virgin)
- Jenny Slate (Zootropolis)
- Brandon Sklenar (Midway)
- Hasan Minhaj (Haunted Mansion)
Plot: When a woman’s first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.
Runtime: 2 Hours 10 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: It Ends With Us starts when Lily (Lively) begins the next adventure in her life. She opens a flower shop, leading to a chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle (Baldoni), whose sister Allysa (Slate) starts working in her shop. While the relationship begins in a whirlwind way, Lily begins to look back at her first love.
Lily bumps into her first love Atlas (Sklenar) and feelings come back. She is left wondering what the right decision is, after Ryle starts showing a more aggressive controlling attitude.
Verdict on It Ends With Us
Recap
The movie follows a woman who was raised in the shadow an abusive father and finds herself in the same position as her mother. Her new love begins controlling her until she meets her first love and must decide whether to break the cycle.
Worst Parts
It was hard to find anything interesting in this movie. It felt tonally wrong for the subject of abusive relationships to be portrayed like a charming romantic comedy. Leaving us in the position of will they, won’t doesn’t make any sense. Elsewhere, the performances are not the best, except for Jenny Slate, a fun supporting character. It lacks the intensity the story wants to give us and loses any credibility in explaining how manipulative the guy is meant to be.
Final Thoughts –It Ends With Us is a drag, tonally wrong movie.
