Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
When a woman's first love suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with a charming, but abusive neurosurgeon is upended, and she realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.
It Ends with Us is a competent adaptation of Colleen Hoover's bestselling novel, handling domestic abuse with reasonable sincerity though somewhat uneven tonal execution. The plot follows familiar romantic-drama beats with the love triangle and cycle-of-abuse themes, earning a middling score for earnestness over originality. Acting from Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni is serviceable but inconsistent, occasionally veering into melodrama. Cinematography is polished and visually appealing with vibrant color work but stays safely within genre conventions. Novelty suffers as the film treads well-worn domestic-abuse narrative ground without a particularly distinctive cinematic voice, despite the source material's popularity. The ending, while emotionally resonant for fans of the book, feels somewhat abrupt and telegraphed.