It Ends With Us (2024) We were destined to endure this film, since our very own BD (Beloved Daughter) is a huge fan of novelist Coleen Hoover, whose stories of heartbreaking star crossed romance enjoy a massive, fervent fan base.
And here, to the delight of Hoover's loyal readers, is the very first film adaptation of one of her overheated tales of damaged lovers whose tortured tribulations consume them.
So there we dutifully sat with BD in the multiplex, the only male in a sea of women who turned out for a Sunday matinee......
Before we laid eyes on the film, we were already enormously entertained by its trainwreck publicity tour, fueled by the clueless, ill-advised and insensitive behavior of its star and co-producer, Blake Lively. (We'll not bore you with the particulars, since you can pick up this stuff from hundreds of social media-hot gossip outlets....)
Fortunately for Lively, her dumb bratty capering didn't stop fans of the book from piling into theaters to see the movie. Such is the power of "Co-Ho"...(as Hoover's readers refer to her) that not even Lively's carrying on as if the film's a fluffly rom-com could put a dent in the box office.
Now, at last, let's get the film......
The good - it's earnestly done, and performed with unerring skill by Lively and her co-star Justin Baldoni, who also directed. Having not read the book, we don't know what liberties were taken to transfer it to the screen, but all the heartrending emotions and melodrama that Hoover's novels are famous for are certainly in place.
The bad - the grinding, patience-testing slow pace and indulgent overlength. At a numbing 130 minutes, it cries out for more judicious editing and swift storytelling. The film's running time ends up as its own worst enemy......
Lively is....(and we kid you not) Lily Blossom Bloom, who's turned a little Boston storefront into a lush, richly decorated flower shop. She's aided in this task by instant best friend-sidekick-assistant Alyssa (cleverly channeling those classic romantic drama Greek Choruses like Thelma Ritter and Eve Arden).
Lily carries the memories of her late abusive dad who regularly beat and raped her mother (Amy Morton). But she also recalls her first love Atlas (played in flashbacks by Alex Neustaedter), a homeless, abused schoolmate she befriended, before he left to join the Marines.
Back in the present, Lily's pursued and wooed by Ryle,(director Baldoni) a womanizing, six-pack abs neurosurgeon who showed ominous signs of a hot temper. And wouldn't ya know it, he conveniently pops into the flower shop to visit his sister Alyssa.
Lily succumbs to Ryle's smooth charm and but once they're married, his bursts of rage start to leave her badly bruised....and we're talkin' more than just hurt feelings here. And wouldn't ya know it, her black 'n blue marks catch the instant infuriated attention of a new young restauranteur.....the now grown up Atlas (Brandon Sklenar).
It's a credit to Lively and Baldoni's nuanced, committed performances that you don't start to realize how terribly slow the scenes are until the sheer repetition of them begins to take its toll. Then it probably dawns on audiences that this story could have been far more effective with at least a half our sucked out of it.
The film also does itself no favors with those obvious picture-postcard Hallmark Channel cutaways to CGI-enhanced cityscapes, immediately branding it as TV leftovers........
As it stands, though, devoted Hoover readers won't mind but it's kind of a shame the film blows its opportunity to attract and entertain a wider crowd outside of the Co Ho base......something that future directors of her filmed novels should keep in mind.
2 & 1/2 stars. (**1/2)
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