Baldoni’s “It Ends With Us” Is Immature, Shallow, and Feels Like Middle School – Review
- Colton Gomez
- Dec 31
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 24
Review
By Colton Gomez | 12/30/24 | 5:12 P.M. Mountain Time
Romance, Drama | Rated PG-13 | 2 hr 10 min | "It Ends With Us" Release Date: August 9, 2024
“It Ends With Us” released before its behind-the-scenes scandals turned into a huge lawsuit blitz involving costars Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni. No one seems to be having a good time filming this movie. This is not a film that will stand the test of time. It is based off the novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover.
Lily Blossom Bloom (Blake Lively) opens a flower shop (sigh) in Boston. She meets, befriends, dates, and marries Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), a rich, ripped neurosurgeon who has temper tantrums (because he gets riled up, oh, come on). Lily runs into her first lover, Atlas (Alex Neustaedter in flashbacks, Brandon Sklenar in present day), at a restaurant he owns. Wanting to escape the domestic abuse pattern of her parents, Lily has to choose the right path for her while navigating this sophomoric love triangle.
Everything about this movie is uninspired. The first scene which Lively and Baldoni share is indicative of everything you need to know about the characters and how the movie will go. Rich, ripped neurosurgeon says what he wants unashamedly to a girl he just met, “I want to have sex with you.” Zero subtlety, zero subtext, zero artistry.
Lively and Baldoni have very little chemistry on screen. I’m not convinced of their love or friendship. Lively turns in a serviceable performance but there’s nothing memorable about it. Every scene is playing on surface-level emotions and nobody in this film feels like a grown-up.
No character is likeable in this film. The nice ones don’t feel like real people and the bad people are obvious villains with little depth. The main characters feel like obnoxious people you hope you never meet in real life. Their friends have no business being in the story, as all they do is support the characters in every decision and sit on the sidelines cheering.
The movie loves to talk about flowers as metaphors for relationships in direct, not subtle ways. It’s always surface-level. It's always underdeveloped. When they were younger, Lily mentions to Atlas, “Roots are the most important parts of the plant.” To which Atlas replies, “Really? I didn’t know that about roots. That’s cool.” I’m going to need a neurosurgeon after this movie.
Plot contrivance after plot contrivance. The neurosurgeon, who depends on a steady and healthy hand every day for work to save lives, grabs a hot pan straight out of the oven and is surprised at the pain. So much so, that he whips around and hits Lily in the face, causing Atlas to notice Lily’s bruise and start a fight between them. Not for one second do I believe a neurosurgeon would grab a hot pan with his bare hand. Nor do I believe for one second that Baldoni’s character is one. We see him in scrubs from time to time but his profession has absolutely nothing to do with the themes of the story, the plot, or anything else. I can only surmise that the writer wanted a rich but also kind of down-to-earth hunk in the story. What are we doing here?
The movie lacks all subtlety and artistry in discussing its theme of domestic abuse patterns. It could have been forty minutes shorter—easily. The story is tropey and feels like a casserole of left-overs from every other romantic drama. It’s not fun to watch. It’s not rewarding to watch. It doesn’t say anything that other films haven’t said before. You can easily guess the ending from a mile away. The dialogue is cringeworthy, the chemistry is flat, and the flavor is bland. I don’t know how the book is but the movie doesn’t work. It’s like an edgy Hallmark movie.
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Review by Colton Gomez
Colton Gomez earned his BA in Film Studies from Weber State University. He owns and operates ColtonGomez.com. Here, he covers new releases in theaters and on streaming. For short versions of his reviews, check out his LetterBoxd
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