It Ends with Us review: Wattpad-like story with ambition for depth

While Justin Baldoni's 'It Ends with Us' falls short on sensitive topics like domestic violence, its portrayal of the journey of breaking trauma patterns is authentic.

“Tsk tsk. Can’t believe these words are coming from you,” said my best friend when I mentioned that I liked 'It Ends with Us,' based on Colleen Hoover's novel of the same name. She's not alone; many who found the book problematic expected the movie to be the same. I, however, went into the movie with a clean slate, having neither read the book nor read about it. (Ironic for a movie reviewer but I prefer to watch each film with fresh eyes.) Still, social media rumors are hard to avoid for someone as terminally online as me. Everyone’s pessimism affected me a bit; I was prepared for the film to be problematic. Instead, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I actually quite liked it.

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Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) returns to Boston from her abusive father’s funeral to start a flower shop out of nowhere that gets successful instantly. She dresses like Pinterest, makes best friends with Allyssa (Jenny Slate) quickly and finds the hottest and richest boyfriend in town, Allysa’s neurosurgeon brother, Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni). Ryle predictably goes from womanizer to madly in love with Lily after meeting her a few times. Right on cue, Lily’s past returns. She runs into her teenage love Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) whose mother also suffered from domestic violence like Lily’s mother. Lily unknowingly steps back into the life she tried to escape, finding herself at a crossroads.

The film begins on a shaky note, with unrealistic and poorly paced scenes where events either happen too quickly or drag on. Lily’s analogy about flowers, meant to be symbolic of the plot, doesn’t translate at all; ineffective dialogue writing is the culprit. In fact, initially the film irkfully resembles every Wattpad rom-com ever. Additionally, the sensitive topic of domestic violence is introduced superficially, serving as a tool to provoke a reaction rather than as an authentic plot element, making its treatment seem performative and insincere.

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Lively gives her best but looks miscast; the character seems to be belonging to a younger woman. She often appears wide-eyed, as if about to say something meaningful but never does, and constantly laughs for no reason. The character quirks are poorly written. Baldoni also gives an impressive performance in a film that tries to give him a layered character. However, his character’s complexity is lost in translation; the script doesn’t know how to portray him. Another disappointment is the wasted potential of Hasan Minhaj, who plays Allysa’s doting husband, Marshall, but has practically nothing to do in the film.

Despite its weaknesses, there are several aspects of It Ends with Us that I quite liked. For one, Lily is not a victim or a warrior. Although the film addresses gender-based violence, it doesn’t turn the protagonist into a hero. The film gives Lily the space to be herself. She is no soldier, she is just taking it one step at a time. Like many of us, she's figuring life out, breaking patterns and learning what is good for her. Credits to the writers who don’t make excuses for violence but instead hint at how trauma can lead to toxicity. Even so, the film and Lily’s life revolve too much around the men in her life for my liking.

It Ends with Us’ greatest strength is its ability to see people as they are and meet them where they are in life without rushing them to resolve things. However, its main weakness is that it superficially touches on sensitive topics like love, violence, and trauma bonding without fully exploring them, missing an opportunity for deeper engagement.