Written by Christy Hall
Directed by Justin Baldoni
Atlas (to Lily): "If you ever find yourself in the position to love somebody again, just fall in love with me."
If there was an award for movie that created the wrong type of headlines during 2024, then this one would be it. What should've been a career boost for both leads/director ended up becoming a disaster area that's probably ended one career and given the other some future obstacles.
I'm not taking sides in the behind the scenes goings on because I don't think either are coming out of this looking grea. Saying that, the movie itself was a success story marred by the controversy surrounding the leads.
Is the movie itself any good? It certainly wants to be. It certainly had good intentions in its handling of domestic abuse between the central couple. The couple being flower shop owner, Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) and neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni). A chance encounter on a rooftop turned into something deeper.
Yup, between Lily inadvertantly hiring and befriending Ryle's sister, Allysa (Jenny Slate) and the latter's husband, Marshall (Hasan Minhaj), Lily fell madly in love with Ryle and the latter with her. Ryle was so besotted that he wanted a proper relationship with Lily to the point where marriage and children became an option for the pair.
The reunion however with Lily's childhood love, Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) came back into the picture. Ryle's jealousy reared it's head and he became physically abusive to Lily to the point where she no choice but to leave him after giving birth to their daughter, Emerson.
Flashbacks do some heavy lifting in fleshing out Lily and Atlas's relationship while also examining the abusive relationship between Lily's parents, as played by Amy Morgan and Kevin McKidd. There's some backstory for the source of Ryle's anger issues but for a lengthy movie, it felt rather skimmed over. At least Lily did leave him though.
- The success of this movie might not generate a sequel but Colleen Hoover can be happy that her other novels are getting adaptations.
- Good casting with the younger versions of Lily and Atlas.
- Standout music: Fatboy Slim's Praise You, Ethel Cain's Strangers and Post Malone's White Iverson.
- Chronology: Present day Maine and Boston. The movie started with the death of Lily's father.
For the most part, I do think It Ends With Us does succeed in it's overall attempt of telling an important story. It's not a perfect take though and the movie's behind the scenes controversy certainly hasn't helped matters. There are strong performances from the leads, I can't deny that.
Rating: 7 out of 10
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