It Ends With Us

It Ends With Us
Starring Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate
Directed by Justin Baldoni

How to you romanticize domestic abuse? By casting three impeccably beautiful people in a film that serves more as an offbeat rom-com than a true life terror for the first 90 minutes, leaving the remaining forty minutes to showcase the battery and abuse that's incredibly not subtle and not at all powerful as you'd expect. It's a tonal Frankenstein monster of humor and horror that's not balanced at all by its two leads, who have as much chemistry as a sock and a shirt, making it feel like a watered-down "Fifty Shades of Grey" wannabe instead of anything resembling a heartfelt look at domestic abuse.

Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) is living in Boston and about to open her own flower shop (of course) when she meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) on a rooftop. Despite his obvious red flags she's attracted to him, all the moreso when she learns that he's the brother of her newfound best friend and only employee Allysa (Jenny Slate). Despite Allysa's warnings that Ryle doesn't want relationships, he forcefully pursues Lily and agrees to settle down for her, as she continues to ignore the red flags time and again. One night at a restaurant she meets the owner, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar) whom she had a fling with when they were kids, and soon Ryle's verbal abuse turns physical. She is beaten and thrown down the stairs but remains with him to Atlas's horror, and when she finds out she's pregnant things only get worse. Will Lily find the strength to leave, or will she continue in the cycle of domestic abuse that she saw her mother go through when she was a child?

Based on a book by Colleen Hoover, "It Ends With Us" is littered with lame cliches and generalizations that you'd find in pretty much any paperback novel, where the story is hindered by the simplistic script. It's like she wanted to write a romantic novel but also wanted to add in domestic violence just because, as it appears totally out of the blue and without rhyme or reason. For the majority of the film we see Lily and Ryle fall in love (even if Ryle continually mentally and verbally abuses her), and then all of a sudden a light switch occurs and Ryle turns into a slapping pushing monster (I'm probably very wrong on this topic, and this might happen a lot in real life, but personally I never saw it so it was a bit jarring to me). The tone of the film goes from flirty romance to domestic abuse then back and forth over and over without any point, and it doesn't do any favors that both performers are flat and bland.

Blake Lively has proven she's got the acting chops to pull off such a delicate balance, but here she just looks bored and reactionary throughout. She never raises her voice, never shows true fear or concern, and just floats through the performance. Surprisingly, Justin Baldoni (who also directs) also gives a flatline performance as the devilishly charming (and devil incarnate) Ryle, a man who - if not a handsome successful neurosurgeon - would never get away with any of the things he does in the film, even before the slaps. He manipulates Lily from the first moment they meet (after he angrily kicks a chair, to which Lily seems surprisingly nonplussed) and keeps her on a metaphorical leash the entire film. He's cold and unemotional, and when the big twist is revealed, it comes out of nowhere and has no lasting impact.

What's more frustrating about the film is how there's no actual love triangle to be had. The trailers made it seem like there was a thing between Lily and Atlas, but that was when they were younger (Isabela Ferrer plays a surprisingly convincing Blake Lively both in appearance and tone), and now as adults they hardly seem at all interested in each other. Atlas worries for Lily's well-being, and goes as far as give her his number, but she never mentions him unless the story demands it. She doesn't seem to have any romantic feelings for him, so seeing Ryle go off the handle is all the more confounding.

When it comes to Ryle's physical abuse, things get even more infuriating, as it seems the story doesn't want to give him either a reason for his explosions, or any consequences for his actions. There's no denying there's no spoilers as to how things turn out, but it's the way it turns out that's irritating. Not that they're approving of domestic abuse, but it kinda brushes it under the carpet in favor of an acceptable ending.

I know I'm not someone who understands the concept of the movie, but to me it seems like "It Ends With Us" was more about producing some sort of twisted love story than shedding light on the real issues of domestic violence.

The Score: C