So Much Drama in "It Ends With Us"

Minor spoilers ahead.

I have not read the Colleen Hoover bestseller that this film is based on. All I know is that "It Ends With Us" is the big romantic drama that made its way onto the summer movie top ten chart.  I like Blake Lively well enough, but I confess this one was not on my radar at all.  I like a romantic comedy now and then, but I find straight romances more difficult, especially since so many of them lately turn out to be damp weepies. 

I'm going to spoil what kind of movie "It Ends With Us" is, because it's difficult to really talk about it otherwise.  Also, I think it's fair to give unsuspecting audiences some warning of what they're in for.  Despite starting with a meet cute and so many of the tropes that you'd find in romantic comedy, "It Ends With Us" gradually morphs into a story about a troubled, abusive relationship.  I think it's important to emphasize that at no point does this ever become an erotic thriller or neo noir.  We are always firmly in the bounds of an adult, contemporary drama aimed at women, using all the familiar character types and storytelling beats associated with them.  The emotional climaxes are heartfelt talks, and we're meant to feel a degree of sympathy for everyone, even the villains.  

The execution is decent.  Lively plays a woman named Lily Bloom, who is naturally opening her own flower shop, and falls for a handsome doctor, Ryle (Justin Baldoni, who also directed).  Jenny Slate is on hand as Ryle's sister and Lily's employee/bestie for some comic relief and emotional support, with Hasan Minhaj as her husband.  Lily's ex-boyfriend Atlas (Brandon Skenlar) also resurfaces in her life to add some complications.  While Blake Lively is dependably watchable, the filmmaking is pretty pedestrian.  The most interesting part of "It Ends With Us" is its shift from familiar romantic comedy fuzzies to more troubling emotional territory as the minor conflicts in the relationship escalate.  There are instances of domestic violence in the film, but they're framed in a way to minimize anything potentially traumatizing.      

We used to have more movies like this.  While trying to find points of comparison, I found myself digging way  back in my memory, to films like "What's Love Got to Do With it?" and "When a Man Loves a Woman."  I don't think "It Ends With Us" is a particularly good example of this kind of romantic drama, but I am heartened by the fact that it exists, and was fairly well received by audiences.  Lively's character has to blatantly spell out the film's messages at the end, and her problematic partner gets off easy, but I give it some credit for trying to grapple with difficult subjects with an unusual amount of nuance.  It feels like baby steps, but I wonder if certain audiences need that kind of hand-holding these days, after adult dramas have been scarce at the multiplexes for so long.  Then again, if you're going to have a bait-and-switch, why not really commit to the idea?

Apparently there was some animosity going on behind the scenes of "It Ends With Us" related to the film's final cut.  I'm a little curious as to what the differences were between Lively and Baldoni's warring versions of the film.  As it exists now, "It Ends With Us" strikes me as well-intentioned but pretty toothless.  It's a movie trying to address an important subject, but in a wishy-washy way that won't make anyone upset or uncomfortable.  Lively's performance is fine but nothing special, while Baldoni doesn't make much of a case for himself either as a director or a leading man.  I don't regret watching this, but it's easily skippable.   

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