It Ends with Us (2024)

Movie · 2024 · Drama, Romance · 2h 11m · PG-13 · English

Curator score: 0.7/10 (845.3K ratings)

We break the pattern or the pattern breaks us.

Overview

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.

Ratings

Director

Justin Baldoni

Production

Columbia Pictures, Wayfarer Studios, Saks Picture Company

Cast

Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni, Jenny Slate, Brandon Sklenar, Hasan Minhaj, Kevin McKidd, Amy Morton, Alex Neustaedter, Isabela Ferrer, Robert Clohessy, Robin S. Walker, Emily Baldoni, Adam Mondschein, Caroline Siegrist, Robyn Lively, Megan Robinson, Steve Monroe, Daphne Zelle

Where to watch

Hulu

Curator Review

Verdict

A glossy, emotionally manipulative romance-drama that treats abuse as melodrama more than lived experience, with uneven performances and a tone that many viewers found unintentionally campy or frustrating. It may work as a hate-watch or for audiences curious about the cultural phenomenon, but as a film it is too clumsy and tonally confused to recommend broadly.

Best for

  • fans of high-drama contemporary romance
  • viewers curious about the Colleen Hoover adaptation discourse
  • hate-watch groups and social-media commentary
  • audiences who prefer melodramatic, glossy studio romances

Skip if

  • you want a nuanced or sensitive portrayal of domestic abuse
  • you are looking for strong writing or consistent tone
  • you dislike melodrama, product-placement sheen, or soap-opera plotting
  • you prefer romance films with more emotional credibility

Overview

It Ends with Us wants to be a sweeping romance about breaking a cycle of abuse, but the movie keeps tripping over its own glossy packaging. The result is a film that feels less like a serious drama than a prestige-adjacent soap opera, with awkward tonal shifts and a script that often reduces difficult material to plot mechanics.

Worth noting

The central relationship is meant to be unsettling, yet the movie’s emotional framing is so inconsistent that the stakes rarely land with the force they should. Instead of building real tension or insight, it leans on familiar beats, polished surfaces, and a kind of overlit sentimentality that makes the whole thing feel strangely detached.

Bottom line

There are moments that clearly aim for catharsis, but they are undercut by the film’s uneven performances and its tendency to rush past the hardest parts. For viewers interested in the surrounding cultural conversation, it’s a notable artifact; as a drama, it’s more exasperating than affecting.

Top Letterboxd reviews

emmgem (1.5★) · 19068 likes

here are the 5 things i love about this movie: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

carley :) (1★) · 16144 likes

got the most explosive diarrhea of my life during this colleen hoover you will be hearing from my lawyers

júlia (1.5★) · 10757 likes

it ends with us wanting to unwatch this film

ram<3 (1.5★) · 9056 likes

the swifties are gonna love this film 💀

jeaba (1.5★) · 7696 likes

feeling: 1. uncomfortable 2. grateful to have never read a colleen hoover book

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Topics

domestic abuse, toxic romance, melodrama, romantic drama, female empowerment, family trauma, soap-opera tone, contemporary drama, relationship conflict, book adaptation

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