The reviews are in for the long-awaited film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s It Ends With Us, which opened in theaters Friday, and critics are divided.
Hoover’s bestselling 2016 novel follows florist Lily Bloom, who falls for a doctor named Ryle Kincaid, but soon discovers he has anger and jealousy issues. She then reconnects with Atlas Corrigan, a chef and her first boyfriend. The film, which opened in theaters on Friday, stars Blake Lively as Lily, Justin Baldoni as Ryle, and Brandon Sklenar as Atlas; Baldoni directs.
David Rapp of Kirkus had mixed feelings about the film, writing, “The film adaptation is mostly faithful to the novel, but it loses something in this translation to the screen—specifically, Lily’s nonstop narration, which is full of asides and occasional insights.”
At Screen Rant, Patrice Witherspoon was also conflicted. “There’s passion and chemistry among the leads, and Baldoni does a nice job of creating scenarios that have us imagining ourselves in this situation,” Witherspoon writes. “Yet, it all feels emotionally manipulative and pulls too much from romantic tropes when its serious themes deserve the spotlight.”
Nick Schager of the Daily Beast panned the film, writing, “Devoid of plausible characterizations, decision-making, and plotting, it’s a dud of epic proportions—literally, as its 130-minute runtime makes it feel like it’ll never end.”
Variety’s Owen Gleiberman, however, called it “an avid and emotional movie that pulls you right along. If you go in not knowing what it’s about, and are therefore all the more surprised by where it goes, it may be even more effective.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
