Fans Of 'It Ends With Us' Will Love The New Film, But There Is Something Missing

The movie closely follows the plot of the viral BookTok sensation, but it doesn't fully capture the complexities of domestic abuse.

The credits to “It Ends With Us,” the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, have just started to roll as my friend and I excuse ourselves to move past the two groups of women in our aisle.

One is made up of four young friends, and the other is a pair of women who are older than me but probably not as old as my mom would be if she was still alive. Both groups are still in their plush, leather, reclining chairs, snuggled under the blankets they brought from home. It’s as if each is at home having just turned the last page of a book, letting the emotion settle over them, not ready to return from a fictional world to the real one.

The all-female audience is like me; they left behind bedtimes for children or partners or pets to go out after work for a special, early preview of protagonist Lily Bloom’s (Blake Lively) emotional story from the novel. Presumably, they are fans of Hoover’s book, and the entire experience feels like the equivalent of staying up too late to turn another page.

But, instead of being alone in bed with the thrill of reading one more chapter, we’re all here together to see how the pages we’ve already read and posted about online and texted the group chat about are being brought to life through the “It Ends With Us” film adaptation, which hits theaters Friday. Christy Hall wrote the screenplay, and Justin Baldoni serves as director and stars as Ryle Kincaid.

Overall, the movie closely follows the plot of the viral BookTok sensation. On the evening of her father’s funeral, Lily Bloom meets neurosurgeon Ryle on the rooftop deck of his apartment complex. Lily is sitting on the edge, gazing out, when Ryle explodes through the door. Enraged, he takes out his aggression on one of the patio chairs. When he sees Lily and realizes that he’s not alone, he calms down, pulls out a joint, and the two share a conversation and an almost-kiss before Lily leaves, planning to never see him again. Months later, Lily unknowingly hires Ryle’s sister, Allysa (Jenny Slate), to work with her in her new flower shop.