Unfortunately, before I even had the chance to watch the movie “It Ends With Us,” I had read about and seen all the controversy surrounding the film. As a fan of the book by Colleen Hoover, it was disappointing to watch this adaptation of such a vulnerable novel, a book that exposes the truth about domestic violence, turned into a lighthearted, romantic comedy.
Before I get into the controversy surrounding Blake Lively and the movie itself, I’d like to give you some background information about the story if you are someone who hasn’t heard of either the book or movie. This book takes us through the life of the main character, Lily Bloom. The story starts at her father’s funeral, where we see Lily unable to come up with anything good to say about him. We later learn about the physical and emotional abuse that Lily had to witness her mother go through at the hands of her father, and then are introduced to her first love, Atlas. The story progresses into her adult life where she meets Ryle, and later reconnects with Atlas. Without spoiling the book more than I already have, the remainder of the story guides us through Lily’s journey of breaking the cycle of abuse and letting “It End With” her and her baby.
Now that you know more about the plot and theme of the book, I’ll explain some differences between the book and the movie. First, some unnecessary minor changes include the character’s ages, Atlas’s restaurant name, and exclusion of major characters. When I first heard that a movie was being made about the book and Blake Lively was to play Lily, I was very surprised. In the book the main characters are in their 20’s, but in the movie they are in their mid to late 30’s. Also, if you read the book and watched the movie I’m sure you were wondering, like myself, where her best friend and roommate, Devin and Lucy, respectively, were.
In terms of more major differences, there was one that stuck out to me the most. In the book, as Lily undergoes abuse from Ryle, she continues to warn him that she will leave him if he doesn’t stop. In the movie, the first two instances of abuse (Ryle slapping Lily, and Ryle pushing Lily down the stairs) are somewhat dismissed by Lily. It seems like she brushes both occasions off as accidents, until she finds out that she is pregnant. I think this contrast is extremely alarming; the movie depicts Lily completely differently than the book does, contributing to a narrative that she was accepting the abuse.
To explain why people are blaming Blake Lively for this shift in narrative, she is one of the producers and the voice for a lot of the changes that were made. Not only was she a problem behind the scenes, but she made even bigger mistakes when promoting this film. Like I have described, this story is very vulnerable and dark. This was not a book I ever caught myself laughing at while reading, but apparently Blake found it funny seeing as she told viewers that the movie will be the “giggliest, girliest of times.” Also, in a video promotion of this movie Blake says “grab your friends, wear your florals, and head out to see it.” To further add to this mess, Blake also used the press surrounding the movie to promote her new hair-care company.
This adaptation had so much potential to be great, but unfortunately, I was heavily disappointed. Not only was everything handled immaturely, but there was so much that the viewers could make fun of: the outfits, the hair, the dialogue. I probably would have found it much more enjoyable if I had not read the book. It Ends With Us was poorly thought out and it’s unbelievable that Colleen Hoover, the author of the book, allowed this film to mock and romanticize such a serious topic. My overall rating of this production as a whole is a 4/10.