" It Ends With Us" Movie Review

By: Barbara Navas '25

The most talked about film on the internet right now is “It Ends with Us,” a romance movie that is based on the novel by Colleen Hoover and published by Atria Books in 2016. The book was described by Hoover as “the hardest book I’ve ever written”. It explores themes of domestic violence and emotional abuse. With over 1 million copies sold worldwide and it being translated into over 20 languages, this novel has made a huge impact on many people. TikTok made it more popular, which led to many teens/young adults buying copies of the novel and making it on the top sales list for 2020 and 2023.

It Ends with Us is a film adaptation released this August. It was directed by Justin Baldoni, and starred Blake lively and Brandon Sklenar. Baldoni had reached out to Colleen Hoover expressing how much he loved the book and seeing if he could turn it into a movie. It did really well, earning $100 million globally in its first week at the box office. 

As the numbers continued to bloom, so did the rumors about this film. It was receiving criticism for its marketing and controversies between the director and leading actors. Social media investigators couldn't help but notice Baldoni and Lively didn't pose for pictures together at the world premiere of It Ends With Us in New York on August 6. The director wasn't photographed with any of the film's cast members while the actress and her costars gathered together for several pictures. While Hoover and Lively took the stage during the event to speak about the movie, Baldoni wasn't up there with them. 

Baldoni had mentioned in one of his interviews with the Today show that he is a “best idea wins person” and that Lively was extremely involved and she made the film better. They bumped heads with certain things like when it came to the decision to keep Lana Del Rey’s song “Cherry” in the film which was begged to be removed from the movie. Since the premiere of the film, Blake Lively has been promoting her brands Betty Booze and Betty Buzz. She has also been criticized for launching her hair-care brand, Blake Brown, at the same time as the movie's promotions. Many believed she was minimizing the sensitivity of the topics discussed in the film.