It Ends With Us - Review

Blake Lively stars in an adaptation of the best-selling book that's more than it may appear to be.

YOU CAN GET ALL MY SHOWS ON AUDIO NOW!

[trinaq]

Be warned, those who haven't read the book. This is NOT a romantic comedy, though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise. It's actually based off of the author's parents' marriage, and how much she respected her mother for walking away for the sake of her children.

[katliutoo]

Justin Baldoni bought the movie rights from the author wanting to direct the movie adaptation. It was the author who encouraged/pushed Baldoni to star as the abuser.

[beaujbatterson]

Man, marketing is wild. The promo I saw made this look like a quirky comedy between Blake Lively and Jenny Slate.

[matheusmatt]

Watched it with my girlfriend last Saturday, I went in blind. This is one of those movies everyone will say it’s important, but no one will say it’s good. Even though the theme is heavy, I thought the writing was absolutely awful and it completely pulled me out of the movie

[godspeedrebirth]

I like how open-minded Dan is… doing reviews of the Eras Tour and now this. Keep it up!

[Mattjarosie]

I enjoyed it, it followed the book and didn’t glorify abuse at all. It actually glorified leaving your abuser at the end of the film

[jamesbuchananbarnesss]

from my personal experience, Colleen Hoover just kinda sucks at writing with all of her books bc she just romanticises very very delicate topics so i hope that at the very least, this movie tries to somewhat improve in it's commentary 💀

[jenm]

As a survivor I feel so triggered, I will not be watching it any time soon. It’s just too much, DV is not a joke

[Model_Roe]

This is one of the rare cases from what I've heard where the movie is better than the book lol 😂 because everybody says Colleen's books are trash

[boilderrik]

Is there a rule that every character needs a stupid name?

[DelahayN]

My girlfriend and I saw Deadpool & Wolverine on Friday and this on Saturday. Neither of us knew w much about it when we went in, other than the fact that my GF is in love with Blake Lively… also, the trailers were pretty vague, which I think is to the movie’s benefit.

Just learning now that the director also plays Ryle, which in hindsight makes sense. I told my GF last night that I appreciated the fact that that character wasn’t completely vilified. He wasn’t portrayed as a complete monster. The movie and its characters don’t shy away from the fact that what he hides and his actions are TERRIBLE, but it is done in a way that makes him more than just a caricature (think Sleeping with the Enemy, 1991). Perhaps this is why the director chose to play the part himself. He wanted Ryle to be a real character with a dark history, and a dark secret.

This film was really refreshing. There is a point in the 3rd act where a main character LITERALLY says the title of the movie… and I don’t groan, or eye roll. It made total sense. It is a story about finding your own strength and the power of breaking generational trauma. Overall I would give it a solid 4/5.

[mikeharwick]

I'm a high school teacher and girls are pretty into Hoover books as far as I can tell, so definitely a possible sleeper hit.

[kristinabronstein]

The book is basically bottom of the barrel writing so the bar for the screenplay to improve was on the floor. Wish the movie didn't fall into the same marketing trap as the book where the abuse is at least hinted at so people will not get blindsided - many survivors of domestic violence have begrudged the original book for existing in the Romance section of stores and being promoted as such with no clue as to the graphic contents.

[intotheunknown]

The adaptation already fixed the most ridiculous plot hole of the book; the fact that they were all in their early 20s, aging them up with the right choice - however CH is problematic, and she tends to glorify abuse, in a lot of her novels, so I'm happy the adaptation seems to have steered clear of falling into that classic CH trap.

[sprungson]

This was a great movie that covers the complexity of humans, and how experiences from childhood can affect us and alter the course of our lives. It also illustrates the mixed emotions involved in being in a domestic relationship. It's not as easy to just leave someone that you've formed an attachment and love for. It takes time and a lot of strength.

[EzenwankwoUdoka]

One of the most practical books I read about Domestic violence is Breaking free from an abusive relationship, your journey to freedom by Natalie Adams.

[starhawk]

My take on it was pretty much the same as yours. I've seen some hate online for it, and there's some controversy about the rest of the cast having some issues with Justin Baldoni, so I was glad to see the movie still felt powerful to me.

[NathanNeilsen]

Great review. I'm a non-book reader who just saw this and the unreliable narrator "twist" really had me. An impressive and lovely film. The baby holding scene really brought it all together.

[jasonraschen]

Thank you for this review Dan. Was planning to check it out this weekend but most of the screenings in my area are sold out. Really interested to see how much $ it made on Monday’s charts episode.

[philipculturespod]

Given she also plays Lady Deadpool, Blake Lively could be Number 1 and 2 at the box office this week!