A couple years ago while on vacation, I did my typical nosy lap around the pool deck to see what everyone was reading.  I was surprised that probably a quarter of covers I saw were for Colleen Hoover’s novel It Ends With Us.  The number of people reading this book was staggering, but it was also the same cover as the novel I held in my hand.  Like them, I was easily engrossed in the world of Lily Bloom.  

First off, a word of caution.  This review will talk about abuse, so take care of yourself in reading. 

It Ends With Us stars Blake Lively as Lily Bloom, a woman trying to overcome a traumatic childhood, especially as she visits home after her father’s death. She wears impossibly cool clothing and a small tattoo on her collarbone that commemorates her first love from back in high school, Atlas. She is about to open a flower shop in Boston. But in deep contemplation up on a roof, she meets a handsome neurosurgeon, Ryle (Justin Baldoni, who also directs). They have a quick, flirty exchange that gets cuts short when he gets called back to the hospital to attend to an emergency. 

In the coming months, they keep running into each other.  Partially because Lily unknowingly hires his sister, Alyssa (Jenny Slate) at her shop.  Their relationship quickly flourishes, but after an incident at home leaves Lily with a bruise on her face she is left with doubts.  He’s apologetic, saying it was an accident and in her mind, maybe it was.  At a restaurant one night they run into an adult Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) who worries about Lily’s safety and things between her and Ryle begin to take an even darker turn.  Lily is then faced with hard decisions that mirror her own mother’s.  

It Ends With Us is perhaps one of the most faithful adaptations I’ve seen in a while, for better or for worse in its 131 minute run time. Certainly director Baldoni knows his audience.  At the screening I was at, no doubt also attended by Goodreads users, BookTok viewers, and fans of the novel alike, they were happy to go on this journey.  They knew this story logical arc, and yet they still gasped in all the right places, including at Baldoni’s abs, which he was only too happy to display (I mean, they are impressive but as director he had options!). However, this audience also laughed a couple times in places not meant to be funny, courtesy of some messy, contrived dialogue.  

The stars giving this film the life it needs are Blake Lively and her too infrequent scene partner Jenny Slate.  Lively, who was last seen in 2020’s The Rhythm Section, was well cast as Lily, embodying her caution, her strength and her pain.  Her performance ranges from charming to heartbreaking as her relationship with Ryle devolves.  However, the scene stealer here is certainly Slate, who is under-utilized as Lily’s best friend and Ryle’s sister.  Her character seemed better developed in the book, and it’s one of the adaptation’s falters since she is an absolute bright spot on screen. 

As in the novel, the film follows the parallel love stories of not only Lily and Ryle but a young Lily and Atlas.  While I recognize the excellent casting of this film, I would be remiss if I didn’t also mention Isabela Ferrer, who plays the young Lily Bloom and is Lively’s absolute doppelgänger, right down to her voice.  The paralleled timelines play off each other well and emphasize the cycle of violence that has been a part of Lily’s life.

The film also utilizes everything from Lily’s perspective, just like the novel.  This means some editing in the violent episodes has you feeling and seeing her truth until things come into focus later on in the film.  Does this completely work? I’m not sure it was executed to its fullest, but I want to believe it was done to highlight the emotional complexity of Lily’s situation.  I felt like It Ends With Us sensitively dealt with the subject matter of domestic abuse, but perhaps didn’t quite stick the landing on its messaging.  I’m sure other, more qualified people than me will have a more valuable opinion than mine on that matter.  

So, as Lily Bloom herself might say, let’s get down to some ‘naked truths’ about It Ends With Us.  If you’re a fan of the book, you’re apt to find this a decent representation of Hoover’s story and be happy with the results. As a fan of Blake Lively who is unfamiliar with the source material, you’re likely going to adore her performance just as much as the inevitable Taylor Swift song that makes its way into the film.  This isn’t a bad thing by the way – just I was waiting for it, and it’s there.  

If you’re an unsuspecting romantic film fan, you’re probably going to find this a bit of a clunky melodrama with a lack of love story flourish for all its beginnings. You can read the sequel for that.  Plus this film doesn’t exist for the romance, despite its obvious love triangle.  It’s more about how first impressions, sometimes are the right ones.  It’s about how relationships that appear ideal on the surface can sour into something much darker, violence hidden away.  But, naked truth, it’s also about how incredible strength can break the cycle.  Let’s just hope that important messaging makes it through to everyone in the audience.