Films at their best: It Ends with Us (2024)

Hello and welcome back to reviewing all things movie-related.

This week, I'll be diving into It Ends with Us, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, a highly anticipated movie adaptation based on the novel by Colleen Hoover.

WARNING - Spoilers

Plot 

The movie begins with Lily Bloom standing on a podium, waiting to give a eulogy at her father Andrew's funeral. However, after a moment of silence, she walks away, refusing to list five of her favourite things about him.

She returns to Boston and meets Ryle Kincaid, a neurosurgeon. On the rooftop, they flirt until he is called away for emergency surgery. Meanwhile, Lily is currently renovating her soon-to-be flower shop and meets Allysa and hires her, but later learns she is Ryle's sister.

At Allysa's birthday party, Ryle tells Lily he is infuriated with her, but Lily tells him she wants a relationship and not just a casual fling. They kiss, and she spends the night at his apartment, where she agrees to date him the next morning. Ryle persuades Lily to introduce him to her mother, Jenny, at a restaurant called Root. There, Lily comes face-to-face with the owner and head chef, Atlas Corrigan, her high school boyfriend.

When Lily and Atlas were kids, flashbacks reveal that Andrew abused Jenny, and Lily found Atlas living in an empty house next door after running away from his mother's abusive boyfriend. They both fell in love, but unfortunately Andrew found them in bed together and beat Atlas. He later joined the Marines.

At Ryle's apartment, he burns his hand while making breakfast for Lily and ends up slapping her when she tries to help. He immediately apologises and says it was an accident. Back in Root, Atlas notices Lily's bruised eye and Ryle's bandaged hand. He confronts Lily and tells her to leave him, but Ryle finds them together and assumes the worst; he starts a fight with Atlas.

Back at Lily's shop, Atlas enters and gives Lily his phone number and tells her to call him if she needs anything. Lily and Ryle visit Allysa and Marshall (her husband) in the hospital after giving birth to their daughter. Here, Ryle proposes to Lily, and she accepts, and they elope.

Ryle eventually finds Atlas's phone number in Lily's phone, and during a heated argument, he pushes her down the stairs, but later claims she fell and that he tried to catch her.

After Ryle finds out that Atlas named his restaurant in Lily's honour, he tries to rape her. She escapes and finds Atlas, who takes her to the hospital, where she discovers she is pregnant. He reveals to Lily that he tried to kill himself on the night she found him, but she inspired him to live.

Allysa reveals to Lily that as a kid, Ryle accidentally shot and killed his brother Emerson. This led to his trauma outbursts. Lily moves out, but Ryle urges her to return and says he'll seek help.

Lily gives birth to her daughter, whom they name Emerson, and says to Ryle she wants a divorce. He eventually agrees when Lily asks him how he would react if his daughter were to be abused by a partner.

A couple of months later, Lily and Jenny take Emerson to visit Andrew's grave. At a farmers market, Lily bumps into Atlas, and she tells him she is no longer with Ryle.

Analysis 

Did I enjoy the novel more than the movie? I think so.

It had been a while since I read Colleen Hoover's novel, so I don’t think my mind was fully up to date when I watched the adaptation. The film battles with the themes of domestic abuse, supposed love, and the willingness to forgive and forget. Lily was one to forgive and forget, whereas Ryle was a perfect example of a man who thinks he can get away with his damaging personality traits and his womanising behaviour.

I did like the flashbacks between Lily's past life with Atlas and her present life with Ryle. However, even though this built on their character development and supplied us with added context, it lacked the ability to progress Lily's and Atlas's characters in the movie.

Lily is left to deal with the complexity of still not being able to get over her teenage love for Atlas, and her supposed love and forgiveness for a neurosurgeon who is quite literally there to please himself. Even when Lily and Ryle visit Allysa in the hospital, Ryle draws all the attention away from the fact that she has just had a baby, only to then go and propose to Lily in their hospital room. It's giving selfishness.

Also, even though I did like Allysa's character, she seems to pop out of nowhere and suddenly become a huge part of Lily's life. There was no real chance to even build on her background.  

Would I watch it again? Probably not. But I'm sure this movie was a hit for fans of both Colleen Hoover and Blake Lively.