2024 was a fantastic year for movies, and with the Academy Awards coming up, competition will be stiff between the best films the industry has to offer. One 2024 film that will not be in the running for any of those awards is Justin Baldoni's It Ends With Us, a romantic drama film based off the book of the same name by Colleen Hoover. Due to the novel's immense popularity, It Ends With Us became one of the most highly anticipated films of the past year. But does this tale of a florist's chaotic love life deserve any flowers?
For the past few years, one of the most successful authors has been romance novelist, Colleen Hoover. But despite the popularity of her books, many have received harsh criticism from readers about her portrayal of domestic violence. Some say she glorifies unhealthy relationships, toxic masculinity, and has a sub-par, at times elementary style of writing. So while Hoover might have a mighty legion of loyal fans, it appears she has just as many detractors.
One of her books that has drawn the most criticism also happens to be her best-selling one: It Ends With Us. Published in 2016, it follows young woman Lily Blossom Bloom, yes that's her real name, as she attempts to navigate a love triangle between her abusive husband, Ryle, and her high school sweetheart, Atlas. And in true Colleen Hoover fashion, chaos ensues, including a few instances of domestic abuse that Lily suffers at the hands of her husband.
It Ends With Us falls into a lot of the same traps that the typical romantic drama does. Many have criticized the film for being unrealistic, but when it comes to making movies or books, you're gonna need some fantasy elements to keep the story interesting. So if her two exes happen to be a physically perfect neurosurgeon and an attractive, successful restaurant owner, so be it. There is far more to pick apart...
Starting off with some of the more concrete elements, the screenplay is easily one of the weakest aspects of the film. Dialogue feels extremely clunky and abrupt, not totally unlike something you'd read on Wattpad in 2014. And the performances simply aren't strong enough to distract the audience from how poorly it's written. Despite having a long, successful career as an actress, Blake Lively has never had the reputation of being a strong performer.
It Ends With Us attempts to tackle the very serious issue of domestic violence throughout its runtime, with varying levels of success, and Lively isn't a compelling enough presence to keep these scenes afloat. Not that her co-star and director, Justin Baldoni is any different in that regard.
For the past few weeks, Lively has been actively suing Baldoni for sexual harassment. Tensions on set must have been through-the-roof at the time of filming and unfortunately it does show quite a bit in their performances. How are they supposed to have good scene chemistry when they despise one another?
It Ends With Us heavily suffers from over-ambition and misplaced confidence. You can tell that during the making of this film, the cast and crew were certain of their abilities to tell a story with a difficult subject matter. But domestic violence is a tricky subject to get right, it's an issue that far too many people struggle with and it can be a hard thing to see portrayed on screen. It Ends With Us is, at it's core, a cheesy pulp novel and Colleen Hoover simply isn't a strong enough writer to do the subject any justice.
What we get as a result is a diluted tonal mess that reads more like trauma-porn than a sincere piece of work. It does little to explore the actual horrors of domestic violence, it seems like the only reason for its inclusion is to make the audience root for Lily's ex-boyfriend in the love triangle. I'm sure the filmmakers had good intentions when making this film, but good intentions can only take you so far.
There are a lot of reasons for a particular movie to be deemed "bad." Whether this be due to a lack of interesting story, terrible VFX, or being just downright boring. But I think the most concise definition of a "bad" film is one that aims to accomplish a particular goal and fails. In this case, Colleen Hoover and company sought out to make a harrowing film about the pains of domestic violence and instead they made a cheesy, watered-down mess that feels like it was written by a fifteen year old.
So, when it comes to It Ends With Us, I'm just grateful that it ended at all.
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