It’s only been a couple of weeks since the Summer’s biggest box office smash, y’know those two “fightin’ friends” from the MCU, so it feels a bit odd that a very serious “issue” drama based on a best seller is dropping into the multiplexes. Really, shouldn’t this be an “awards contender” for the much cooler Fall months? Well, literary adaptations other than the “YA” franchises do often get a Summertime release (two years ago WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING arrived that July). And this film does star the wife of one of the aforementioned Marvel spandex-wearing icons. Can she lure away some of the Summer cinema crowds as the novel’s heroine who declares (yes, she actually “drops” the tile in the “third act”) IT ENDS WITH US?
Oh, the actress mentioned above is Blake Lively, who plays the story’s “main focus”, thirty-something Lily Bloom. We first encounter her as she drives back into her family’s lush suburban neighborhood and is greeted at the front door of her two-story childhood home by her teary mother Jenny (Amy Morton). Sure, she’s happy to see Lily, but the reunion happens because of the death of the patriarch Andrew (Kevin McKidd). A visit to her old bedroom evokes many memories, some nice and some not-so-nice. Her nostalgia is interrupted by Jenny who reminds Lily that she will be a speaker at the memorial service (“Just say five good things about him”). Ultimately Lily is unable to come up with anything and marches out of the church as a shocked Jenny looks on. Then Lily returns to Boston and decides to reflect while sitting on the ledge of the top-floor terrace of a downtown apartment highrise. That’s where she meets one of its residents, smoldering (along with tall, dark, and handsome) neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni). The two flirt and even share some “naked truths” with Lily offering up the biggest stunner. She lost her virginity in high school to a boy who turned out to be homeless. It’s then that the hospital calls him and they go their separate ways. For Lily, she’s rented out some retail space and is turning it into a “high-end” flower shop. During her downtime, Lily recalls that long-ago secret romance with the mysterious loner Atlas (Alex Neustaedter). Her thoughts are interrupted by a quirky local named Allysa (Jenny Slate) who wants to be the store’s first staffer. After the place is open to the public they get their first customers, Allysa’s zany investor hubby Marshall (Hasan Minhaj) and Allysa’s brother…Ryle! Small world! The big romance truly begins, but his darker side emerges soon after they frequent the “hot” new trendy restaurant “Root” which is owned and managed by the now adult chef Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar). Will the man from her past open her eyes to the warning signs coming from Lily’s current love?
This story’s stumbles are somewhat smoothed out by the confident bravada performance of Ms. Lively, doing some of her best work since that underrated gem A SIMPLE FAVOR. As Lily she projects a no-nonsense demeanor though seemingly aloof to her family tragedy, her eyes tell us that it was a troubled childhood. We see some of that melt away as she begins her relationship with Ryle, but the tough exterior holds as she is determined not to be a new “notch on his bedpost”. We see another side when she’s reunited with that lost first love, making way for her awakening to the dangerous path before her. Baldoni is all smooth silky charm as Ryle, somehow giving their “meet cute” a sultry edge. This gives even more power to the cruel twists in his behavior much later. Slate is the usual scene stealer as the story’s comic relief, doing a modern-age riff on the pampered rich diva who thinks the working class is a fun escape from the “high life” (think a younger Karen from “Will and Grace”). Minhaj is her perfect match as the energetic “money mover” hubby Marshall. Sklenar is effective as the somber, often stoic but empathetic first love Atlas (something in that name) who tries to hide the feelings that Lily has rekindled. Unfortunately, there’s little resemblance to his teenage version played with a defiant dignity by Nuestaedter. On the other hand, Lively’s teen version really works thanks to the splendid casting and dramatic chops of Isabela Ferrer who perfectly captures the euphoria of a first infatuation.
I was surprised to see that the director/producer of the film is the male lead Baldoni, which is some impressive “heavy lifting”. Interestingly his last feature was another literary adaptation from five years ago, FIVE FEET APART. He never lets the pacing sag, even as he indulges in several cliche romantic montages (“boozin’ and bowling”) and veers into the area of “Nancy Meyers lifestyle porn” as we take in Ryle’s “ready for the magazine layout cover shoot” digs. This makes the shift in tone, into a domestic violence drama, so jarring. Yes, it’s an important topic, but so much is hidden from us (Lily even refers to herself as an “unreliable narrator”) that it deflects the message, Plus there are so many wild “callbacks” and coincidences. And like most “rom-coms” a major conflict could be quelled with just a few words (Lly is reduced to chanting a mantra of “Baby…baby…”). There’s an opportunity to explore the motivations of the abuser, but one character provides an explanation that’s too simplistic, reminding me of the Simon Oakland denouncement in the last minutes of the original PSYCHO. Then the final act tosses another element in that isn’t really explored in order to provide an inspiring final fade-out. Maybe Christy Hall’s screenplay from Colleen Hoover’s best-seller needed another “pass” or two. Perhaps fans of the book will enjoy the movie “spin”, but unaware moviegoers may think they’ve entered a high gloss basic cable TV “message movie” with the unwieldy histrionics of IT ENDS WITH US.
2 Out of 4
IT ENDS WITH US is now playing in theatres everywhere
