Colleen Hoover’s “It Ends With Us” is a novel that took the world by storm, selling over eight million copies worldwide.
When observing the author behind the realm of ‘It Ends With Us’, Hoover has had first-hand experience of domestic violence, which is what inspired her to include this storyline. The relationship of her mother and father gave her firsthand experience on domestic violence. Ironically, one of the book’s criticisms was the glamorization of domestic violence. This movie was doomed from the start because of criticisms of the book itself.
“The book itself is already a problem. It should have ended there. I don’t think it should have become a movie,” freshman Shanelle Goredema said.
It Ends With Us follows our main character, Lily Bloom as she navigates her abusive relationship with neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid. Her life further complicates as her first love, Atlas Corrigan comes back into her life.
Justin Baldowni and his production company have been working on the movie since 2019. Baldowni, who played Ryle, shared he felt a connection with the book and worked alongside Hoover on the movie production. In January 2023, it was revealed that Blake Lively was to be cast as Lily Bloom, as well as being the film’s executive director.
The casting of Lively as Lily Bloom was not received well by fans. Many felt that Lively was not the person they envisioned as Lily Bloom, leading to fan petitions and outrage on social media. This was an insight into the huge controversy to come.
Tensions between Lively and Baldowni are also a topic for discussion. Both Baldowni and Lively worked closely together and played a large role in the film. This is why it raised many questions regarding the press tour when Baldowni was isolated from the rest of the cast. This leads to one of the biggest controversies, which is the promotion and press tour of this film. Lively’s husband Ryan Reynolds played a large role in both the film and the press tour, as his movie “Deadpool” was also during its promotion period. Reynolds’s involvement caused a lot of discourse.
“Ryan Reynolds shouldn’t have been involved in the film, at all,” senior Nuhamin Denissie said.
Although this movie is about domestic violence, it seemed like Lively was trying to ignore that aspect of the film, as she hadn’t provided any support for those familiar with domestic violence situations on her social media.
The way Lively is promoting this film, can blindsight the viewer.
“Grab your friends and wear your florals, and head out to see it,” Lively said, making the movie seem light-hearted.
There were discussions about how the controversy affected the book and movie’s theme. While some think the controversy overshadows the message, many think the opposite.
“The whole controversy being present, in the first place, is what raised awareness about what the movie is actually about,” sophomore Jasmine Raid said.
Many people are by the notion that domestic violence is a serious topic that wasn’t handled well by Hoover. The main focus of this movie was to support people experiencing domestic violence and its survivors, but the controversy seemed to have overshadowed the true and deep meaning of the film.
