It Ends With Us

Though I'm an avid reader, Coleen Hoover is not an author I've dabbled much in. She's insanely prolific and has her niche...more power to her. Aside from Verity (which is truly excellent), I've not spent time in her worlds. 

Because of that - and general busyness - I skipped It Ends with Us earlier this year. A shocker to some given it features Blake Lively (my wife knows I'm in love with her, it's ok). It garnered better-than-expected reviews so I added it to my "catch-up" list and am glad I did. 

Like several of the films in my "catch-up" list, I didn't miss much in theaters, but sitting in the comfort of my own home, it's an easy recommendation for a good movie. 

It Ends With Us's best feature is that it avoids being overly soapy or feeling like a teen/young adult CW romance. This is a more mature romantic film with some mature themes, even if it does have some of the same conveniences of the genre it exists in. 

Blake Lively elevates the entire thing with a nuanced, yet effective central performance. She's very good in these roles, and this somewhat reminded me of her work in The Age of Adeline, another better-than-expected romance film that has (somewhat) stuck with me through the years. It's not a role that will earn her any awards, but it does have moments of emotional demand, which Lively handles with ease. In other scenes, her natural charm and charisma carry the film's sometimes-generic script. Other performances are just fine, though Jenny Slate gets the "next-best" award as Lilly Bloom's (Lively) best friend. 

I found the film's runtime to be a bit egregious and would have felt worse in a theater. There's no reason this needs to be > 2 hours, much less 110 minutes, but at 130 minutes, you can feel where it meanders and lags. In hindsight, certain scenes feel unnecessary or unnecessarily long. It's probably the film's biggest fault and when you're trying to create a romance, that takes time, but It Ends With Us feels a bit inefficient with its use of it. Still, the film exceeds at setting a tone and a "vibe", largely thanks to some strong filmmaking from director Justin Baldoni, who also stars in the film and allegedly had a big off-screen conflict with Lively. This isn't going to win any editing or cinematography awards, but it's better made than you'd expect (a recurring theme) and elevates the film. Some appropriate music choice - including one of Lively's besties, T-Swift - adds to nailing the tone and was one of the film's highlights. 

It Ends With Us is one of the films I'm glad to have skipped in theaters to get some time back, but was happy to watch with my wife at home. The direction, music selection, and Lively elevate it out of the generic genre and into a more mature territory, and it does a solid job balancing its message with the romance(s) it wants to portray. 

Rapid Rath's Review Score | 7/10