It Ends with Us

Earlier last week my wife and I went to see the new drama, It Ends with Us, directed by Justin Baldoni and starring Blake Lively. The film centers around Lily Bloom (Lively) as she learns to cope with the abusive men in her life.

I knew that this movie was going to have a great story solely because it is based on the book by Colleen Hoover. This movie was very well done, and I was impressed by the great chemistry between Lively and Baldoni, who not only directed the film but starred in it as well. What is even more impressive is seeing their chemistry knowing about all of the drama that has been going on off set. As pretty much everyone is by now aware, Baldoni and Lively do not get along and I am sure it made for some awkwardness on set, but you would never have guessed that based on both of their performances. What stood out most for me and what made me believe that this is truly a great movie that everyone should see was the way that screenwriter Christy Hall brought this story to life. In most movies that we see where these is a tone of abuse, it is very one-sided, and the abuser is seen as a monster rather than a human. What this movie did so well was showing us both sides while still making it clear that abuse of any kind is never excusable and should never be tolerated.

I really loved this movie and feel that it tells such an important story in an absolutely beautiful way. This is the kind of movie that every guy needs to watch. I of course am not saying that only men abuse people, but the statistics show that 1 in 7 men experience some form of physical abuse in their lifetimes vs. 1 in 4 women. 

Thanks for reading!