It Ends With Us by Collen Hoover - a film and book review

Film Review

Hello to everyone and anyone who’s reading! I’ve finished reading the book and rewatched the film so here is my review for both media. 

And before I start, this will be filled with spoilers from both the book and film. I will be talking about the film first then the book. 

The first time I watched this was with some of my friends in the cinema when it first premiered. Verbatim, I said, ‘This was such a hard watch! It was such a shame that Blake Lively ruined my experience as a viewer. As someone who hasn’t read the book yet (in which I will read it soon!) and seeing this come to life is absolutely jarring.’ 

And this still stands after reading the book and rewatching the film. The line deliveries were off and ‘cringe’, some of the characters there (Allysa and Marshall as an example) were used/simply there solely to help drive the plot for the film all while in the book, Allysa and Marshall played a much more bigger role in both Lily’s and Ryle’s life - Allysa being Lily’s best friend and Marshall being there to prevent Ryle from hitting Lily/losing control. 

Another thing I wanted to pick a bone with was the wardrobe. I swear to you all, I was tempted to change my career choice from gig archiving to wardrobe. Who and why did we give Blake the creative freedom to dress Lily? Yes, the book didn’t mentioned a lot about Lily’s wardrobe nor Allysa’s but from ‘wearing a simple black dress to the party’, we could understand that Lily was the type of person who wears minimal or practical clothing because she gets down and dirty to work. The mention of Allysa wearing white pants and having a hermes meant she was and has always been the type of girl who’s always prim and proper. If given the chance to redo the wardrobe for this film, I’ll do it in a heartbeat with a small amount of budget because fuck? Her clothes were the only thing my eye could focus on. 

Don’t piss me off! Now, another thing I wanted to address was the casting. Why are we casting 40 year olds to play people from their early and late 20s? Hello?? It is so jarring. I believed if they casted people closer to the ages of the characters, the film will leave a much bigger impact than whatever was that. 

Another thing was the lack of an original score in the film. Like, yes, I too, love a little Lana Del Rey and Cigarettes After Sex but I do not need a music compilation babe, moving forward! And I say ‘lack’ rather than ‘none’ because there were some original scores but.. Yeah.

To conclude on how I feel about the film, it really felt like a film for adults but in a millennial core way as, not surprising though coming from the two 40+ years olds produced and REWROTE the script during a crucial time for the film industry aka the writer’s strike. How utterly disappointing. 

The message of the film was great and it was there, it would have been so impactful, timeless even, if it didn’t make me want to leave the cinema during the 2nd act. But instead I left the cinema feeling pity towards Justine. I hope he gets to work with better people in the future. 

Book Review

Now, let’s begin with the book. I’ve read the book after watching the film and here are my thoughts. 

First 5 pages, I felt like Lily Bloom was such a PICK ME! It ticked me out so bad.. And the 16 year old and 18 year old relationship?? GOODNESS! Yes, it is just a two year age gap however the thing that irked me badly about that relationship is because of the different ‘maturity’ level. And let’s not forget about the fact that there was a purity supremacy thing going on..? Like the virgin thing and what not.

It also felt like Collen was milking the book so bad, there were simply too many things happening, always something going on and the bitch did not let us BREATHE. So many of these things could be avoided easily if Lily had communicated clearly and honestly with Ryle and if she could just LET GO of Atlas! He is an ex for a reason. Lily clearly needed help, if your boyfriend hits you ONCE and you thought/reminded of your dead abusive father than if that is not a reality check, I don’t know what is! I also thought that Lily was lowkey kinda narcissistic and selfish? Like the moments where Ryle finally held Emmy for the first time only to be told to ‘get a divorce’.. Like damn, can’t I breathe?

I also didn’t like the Ellen Degenerase entries because it was particularly half of the contents of the book, obviously it is to help give context of Lily’s past but this could be easily formatted in a different way, maybe even start the book from the past. It wanted to be quirky, cute, but it did not hit with me, I’m not sure why. Collen also made sex sound so bad, even though it was implied and not actually described. 

And god! This book is also so millennial coded. Why am I shocked? Why do I get shocked over and over by that fact? The film was millennial coded, why won’t the book be too? 

However, as much as I disliked the book, there were some moments I found.. Relatable. Regarding being a bystander of your parents’ abusive, violent relationship. But truly, that was the only thing that was good about it. 

Again, I understand the message Collen was trying to convey but I just don’t know why it did not hit with me.