Lily Bloom (Blake Lively) moves to Boston to fulfil her lifelong dream of opening a flower shop. She briefly has to return to her Maine hometown for her father’s funeral but struggles to mourn for the man who used to physically abuse her mum. Back in Boston she meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni), but he may not be as charming as he seems.
Author Colleen Hoover seemed to transition from obscurity to ubiquity extremely rapidly and this is the first adaptation of one of her novels. The biggest problem is the screenplay. Though I don’t know if the blame lies with Christy Hall’s adaptation, Hoover’s source material or both, but the story really plods along. Lily is annoying and Ryle smug when he was meant to be self-confident.
None of the supporting characters are believable, with the exception of Lily’s childhood sweetheart Atlas, who reconnects with Lily after she meets Ryle. Brandon Sklenar gives an excellent performance as the older Atlas and he gives the latter part of the film a shot in the arm.
It Ends With Us has opened well in the US, making further film versions of Hoover’s work sadly inevitable.
Rating: 4 out of 10