It Ends with Us (2024) * * *

 

Directed by:  Justin Baldoni

Starring:  Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Brendon Sklenar, Jenny Slate, Amy Morton, Hasan Minhaj, Isabela Ferrer, Alex Neustaedter

Justin Baldoni's adaptation of Colleen Hoover's novel is a story of a love triangle in which abuse is a central theme.   Lily Bloom (Lively) witnessed her father abuse her mother as a teenager.  Lily tries to deliver the eulogy at her father's funeral, but flees after realizing she can't say a kind word about him.  She moves to Boston, opens up a flower shop, and meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni).  The first thing she sees from him is him kicking over a chair after a frustrating day at the office.  Lily likes him, he likes her, they flirt but keep their distance, and soon wind up dating.  

It Ends with Us then flashes back to Lily's teenage years, when she met and fell in love with a homeless schoolmate who lives in an abandoned house across the street.  Atlas (Neustaedter) is a shy kid ashamed of his situation, and Lily (Ferrer) befriends him.  You gotta love the names Atlas and Ryle, straight out of a romance novel or soap opera.  Lily loses her virginity to Atlas, and soon beaten to within an inch of his life by Lily's father.  They don't see each other again until Lily takes Ryle and her mother (Morton) to a restaurant owned by Atlas.  

Atlas and Lily recognize each other instantly and fall back in love, but don't act on it especially after Ryle attempts to do to Atlas what Lily's father did to him decades ago.  Ryle seems sweet, loving, caring, and doting, until he isn't.  After an argument, Ryle seemingly strikes Lily by accident trying to remove a burning roast from the oven.  After another fight, Lily falls down the stairs.  Ryle has plausible deniability in that both looked like accidents, but it allows us and Lily a chance to see another side of this man.   Lily learns she is pregnant after the fall, and now must decide whether Ryle fits into her life anymore.  

It Ends with Us takes its time to develop Lily and the other characters.  They aren't just pretty faces.  There is depth there and more than one dimension.  Is Ryle abusive or were these just accidents?  What drives him?   Thankfully, It Ends with Us isn't abuse porn like Mommie Dearest or What's Love Got to Do with It?  These scenes are subtle, but get the point across, and makes us wonder if Ryle is beyond redemption.  It Ends with Us contains vivid performances especially from Lively, whose smile hides deeper scars, which could also be said for the other characters.