It Ends with Us, based on a novel by Colleen Hoover, tells the story of Lily Bloom, a woman who escaped from an abusive home and an abusive marriage to find her way, at last, to freedom and safety. I reveal some big spoilers in the review.

It Ends with Us is an inspiring story about escaping from the dangers of abusive men. I found it hard to think only about the movie while watching it. I’m on social media so much I thought about how the director and star Justin Baldoni hired a PR firm to smear his co-star Blake Lively after she complained about his abusive behavior toward her on the set. And how Blake Lively came back with the receipts to prove her claims and filed suit against him. The scandal and social media uproar surrounding the movie isn’t over, although the movie has been available for a while.

The movie had a happy ending. I hope the real life story surrounding it does, too. By which I mean, believe women.

Just the movie

To comment on only the 2 hours and 10 minutes of the movie, it looks at several periods in Lily Bloom’s life. Lily’s (Isabela Ferrer as a teen and Blake Lively as an adult) father beat her mother regularly. Her mother was Lily’s role model for lying and minimizing the abuse and staying with the abuser.

While in high school, Lily befriended a unhoused boy named Atlas (Alex Neustaedter as a teen and Brandon Sklenar as an adult.) The casting of the teen and adult versions of these two characters was excellent in terms of looks.

Lily and Atlas share young love, until her father finds him in her bed and beats him so badly he ends up in the hospital. The two go in separate ways after that.

Years later, Lily lives in Boston and dreams of opening a flower shop. She meets a handsome neurosurgeon named Ryle (Justin Baldoni) and falls in love. She hires Allysa (Jenny Slate) to work with her in her flower shop before she knows that Ryle is Allysa’s brother.

After she’s fallen for Ryle, she discovers Atlas now lives in Boston and runs a hot new restaurant. Feelings are still there, but Lily sticks with Ryle.

Once Lily marries Ryle, his true nature comes out. It’s violent and abusive. At first she follows her mother’s lead and dismisses it as accidental or a one time thing. Finally it gets so bad she leaves him.

My favorite line in the movie is when Allysa tells Lily that as Ryle’s sister she wishes he would get help and be a good husband but as Lily’s best friend if Lily doesn’t leave him Allysa will really be pissed. For a while it looked like she might take him back and I was prepared to be pissed, too.

But she’s out of it for good. The cycle of abuse ends now.

The story skips ahead another few years and we see how Lily is doing on her own. I’d call it a happy ending to a dangerous story.

I don’t rate this one very high. If it hadn’t been filled with behind the scenes drama I might feel more positive toward it. I won’t be watching anything directed by Justin Baldoni in the future. I watched it on Christmas day with my granddaughter and her family and they thought it was good, but they didn’t know any of the gossip swirling around it.

If you have seen it, please share what you thought about the film. The comments are open.

It’s steaming on Netflix.