It Ends With Us

The Plot: Lily (Blake Lively) returns home to Boston to mark the passing of her father Andrew (Kevin McKidd). He was a troubled man with a complex relationship with his wife and daughter. She sees an opportunity to fulfill her dream of opening a flower shop, attracting the attention of the sparky Allysa (Jenn Slate) who comes to work for her. Also attracting her attention in a different way is Ryle (Justin Baldoni), a neurosurgeon who doesn’t do relationships – but yet there’s something between them. A chance encounter with dishy chef Atlas (Brandon Sklenar) also sends her head spinning…

The Verdict: Patterns of toxic behaviour in relationships can follow a person around like a bad penny, rearing its ugly head in the past, the present and threateningly, the future. Where does one draw the line and say ‘this isn’t going to be me’. It’s a theme that runs through It Ends With Us, based on the best-selling book by American author Colleen Hoover. It’s a strong character piece built around the character of Lily, an optimistic woman who sees the good in people but who also knows her self-worth enough to call out red-flag-raising behaviour. It’s not exactly a heart-chuckling romcom or even a swoony romantic drama. It lies somewhere between the two in its own no woman’s land. It’s almost as if the film is a riposte to the Fifty Shades Of Nonsense trilogy, with a lead female character who is smarter and more clearly in-tune with her feelings, desires and hopes.

Then again, those films had the novelist also involved in the screenplay adaptation – not always a good idea when there should be a delineating separation between the book and the film adaptation. Hoover is very much involved here, adapting her book with Christy Hall. One difference in the adaptation is aging up the love triangle characters which gives them more life experience and, hopefully, more common sense. It works well in these circumstances, mostly on the strength of Blake Lively’s, ahem, lively performance. She’s an often under-used and under-appreciated actor who is able to get under the skin of a character, while delivering the emotional beats required to show Lily’s evolving thought-process. It’s a quietly-observed performance which powers the film along, balancing it out against the weaker elements.

The two male leads in the film aren’t as well drawn, skirting very close to being stock characters copied and pasted from any number of romantic dramas. They’ve both got troubled pasts (who hasn’t in these kinds of films) and lean towards explosive behaviour that doesn’t always come across as convincing. They remain just out of reach, a little too enigmatic to fully engage with. Director Justin Baldoni, who also plays Ryle, seems to suggest that maybe Lily would be better off with neither of them. Almost. This being a hopeful film though, it finds its own way through the laughs, tears and messiness of life to arrive at its own particular destination. In that sense, the film has some important things to say about the patterns of toxic behaviour and to get people talking about it as they leave the cinema – while being entertaining without being patronising. It doesn’t always hit the right marks, but when it does It Ends With Us is a film that rings true because it knows Lily’s self-worth and isn’t going to sacrifice that at the altar of happy endings. This one is more complex and benefits from that. Worth seeing.

Rating: 3 / 5

Review by Gareth O’Connor