“It Ends With Us” looks like it has been around for years.
The corny plot, the gauzy settings and the oh-so-questionable link to the past conspire to remind us of similar films we actually liked.
And then it goes on too long and we realize it’s not the dream scenario we thought.
Like any number of Nicholas Sparks stories, it swirls around a soft-focus life.
Blake Lively plays Lily Bloom, a free-spirited woman (of course) who opens a flower shop in Boston, befriends a neurosurgeon and seems to be headed for the ultimate life of happiness.
The shop is a hit (it’s featured in a magazine!), Lily’s best friend is a hoot and that relationship with the surgeon? It blossoms … but so, too, does his temper.
When Ryle (Justin Baldoni, who also directed) is triggered, he flies off the handle and slugs the woman in his life.
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She tries to overlook his tendencies but when a man from her past (who was involved in an earlier abuse situation) returns, anything is possible.
Baldoni takes his time letting this unfurl and gives Lively plenty of opportunity to look like Kate Hudson’s younger sister. They’re constantly going someplace and when he’s not in scrubs, he’s in cashmere.
His sister (Jenny Slate), meanwhile, is the kookie one who doesn’t need the money but enjoys looking like Rhoda in Mary Tyler Moore’s sitcom. She plays sounding board for Lily and, when necessary, fluffs up arrangements in the Anthropologie-like store.
When they happen to see Lily’s old fling at a restaurant, Ryle becomes suspicious and soon we’re off on one of those jealousy hunts. What doesn’t make sense is how quickly Lily warms to the guy she hasn’t seen in decades. She doesn’t know much about those intervening years, just that he used to be homeless, and she gave him food and a place to sleep.
Now, of course, she’s eager to rekindle the relationship and not say anything to the neurosurgeon.
While Baldoni doesn’t hold back in telling us about Lily’s past (her dad, you see, was abusive, too), he doesn’t quite handle that relationship with Atlas – the homeless guy – in a way that would make sense. Was there no attempt at contact in the intervening years? Why are the two starting businesses in the same city at the same time? Why does the “what happened then” become so crucial now?
Based on Colleen Hoover’s best seller, “It Ends With Us” spills its secrets before it even gets going. (The title alone should be a clue.) It isn’t afraid, however, to make the abusive life seem less threatening than it actually is. The “yeah, buts” are stacked like so many vases and practically tumble while Lively makes like Sharon Stone in any number of ‘90s films. It’s easy to see how she might cut him a break after one incident. But two? Three? More?
Until a crucial confrontation scene, “It Ends With Us” suggests too many outs for comfort. Lively doesn’t reveal the most important stories in her life and ends up reliving them. Baldoni’s character keeps his cards close to the vest, too.
When everyone learns as much we’re already 90 minutes into this situation wondering how the director can stretch it another 40 minutes.
Easily, “It Ends With Us” is too long even with flashbacks. It should have included crucial discussions and a coda that explains how well everyone is doing five, 10 years later. As is, it’s like the stage version of “Waitress” without the songs.
Movies in a minute with film critic Bruce Miller
Movies in a Minute: "Abigail"
Movies in a Minute: "Civil War"
Movies in a Minute: "Monkey Man"
Movies in a Minute: "Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire"
Movies in a Minute: "Late Night With the Devil"
Movies in a Minute: "Snack Shack"
Movies in a Minute: "Cabrini"
Movies in a Minute "Dune: Part Two"
Movies in a Minute: "Drive-Away Dolls"
Movies in a Minute "Bob Marley: One Love"
Movies in a Minute: "Lisa Frankenstein”
Movies in a Minute: “The Greatest Night in Pop”
Movies in a Minute: "Poor Things"
Movies in a Minute: Best Actress nominee Sandra Huller
Movies in a Minute: "Mean Girls"
Movies in a Minute: "Anyone But You"
Movies in a Minute: "The Color Purple"
Movies in a Minute: "The Iron Claw"
Movies in a Minute: "Wonka"
Movies in a Minute: "May December"
Movies in a Minute: "Wish"
Movies in a Minute: "Next Goal Wins"
Movies in a Minute: "The Marvels"
Movies in a Minute: "The Holdovers"
Movies in a Minute: "Five Nights at Freddy's"
Movies in a Minute "Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour"
Movies in a Minute: "Killers of the Flower Moon"
Movies in a Minute: "The Exorcist: Believer"
Movies in a Minute: "Fair Play"
Movies in a Minute: "Expend4bles"
Movies in a Minute: "A Haunting in Venice"
Movies in a Minute: "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3"
Movies in a Minute: "The Equalizer 3"
Movies in a Minute: "Blue Beetle"
Movies in a Minute: "Gran Turismo"
Movies in a Minute: Mid-year wrap-up
Movies in a Minute: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem"
Fans in Mumbai celebrate new Rajinikanth movie
Movies in a Minute: "Haunted Mansion"
Movies in a Minute: "Barbie"
Movies in a Minute: “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One”
Movies in a Minute: “Joy Ride”
Movies in a Minute: “Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny”
Movies in a Minute: “No Hard Feelings”
Movies in a Minute: "Elemental"
Movies in a Minute: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
Movies in a Minute: “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”
Movies in a Minute: "The Little Mermaid"
Movies in a Minute: “Fast X”
Movies in a Minute: "Book Club: The Next Chapter"
Movies in a Minute: “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3”
Movies in a Minute: "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret."
Movies in a Minute: "The Covenant"
Movies in a Minute: "Renfield"
Movies in a Minute: "Air"
Movies in a Minute: "Dungeons and Dragons"
Movies in a Minute: "John Wick Chapter 4"
Movies in a Minute: “Champions”
Movies in a Minute: “Creed III”
Movies in a Minute: “80 for Brady”
Movies in a Minute: "Challengers"
Movies in a Minute: "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes"
Movies in a Minute: "The Fall Guy"
Movies in a Minute: "The Blue Angels"
Movies in a Minute: "Summer Camp"
Movies in a Minute: "Jim Henson Idea Man”
Movies in a Minute "Bad Boys: Ride or Die"
Movies in a Minute: "Inside Out 2"
Movies in a Minute: "Thelma"
Movies in a Minute "A Quiet Place: Day One"
Movies in a Minute "Maxxxine"
Movies in a Minute "Despicable Me 4"
Movies in a Minute: "Deadpool & Wolverine"
Movies in a Minute: "Twisters"
Movies in a Minute: "Trap"
Movies in a Minute: "It Ends With Us"
Bruce Miller is editor of the Sioux City Journal.
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