The movie adaptation of “It Ends With Us,” a book by Colleen Hoover, premiered on Friday, August 9. After seeing photos and clips of behind-the-scenes, many fans were wary of how the movie would come out, myself included. Now, I will be the first to admit that tears were shed toward the end of the film; however, I left the theater a bit disappointed. Let me explain.
the movie was rushed
Having read the book, I felt the story was rushed throughout the entire movie. While the film did show some significant moments from the book, it felt like overall it was being sped through. Some key pieces in the book’s storyline were missing from the movie.
Lily’s tattoo, which was shown and eventually became a key part of the story, was barely given any background context. The book specifically touches on the tattoo’s placement, but this was not mentioned at all in the movie.
While the line, “Everything is better in Boston,” was used in the movie, the fridge magnet did not have any significance like it did in the book. The movie also changed the name of Atlas’ restaurant to Root, whereas in the book it was Bibs, an acronym for “better in Boston.”
A positive note from this change is that the movie still gave the restaurant’s name a part in the story. The name Root becomes significant because of a moment Atlas and Lily shared as teenagers, planting vegetables in a garden.
Where was ellen?
The letters to Ellen played a huge role in the book and essentially told the story of Atlas and Lily’s love story. Not that I am exactly complaining about the missing letters, because in my opinion, it was a bit much. I did notice little cameos in the movie, though, like Ellen being played on the TV during a scene of teenage Lily waiting as Atlas took a shower in her home.
The age of the characters.
In the book, Lily and Ryle are in their mid to late 20s, while in the movie they are in their 30s. While this did not make much of a difference in the way I perceived the movie, I can understand why some people might be disappointed.
With that being said, Blake Lively has always been one of my favorite actresses, so after seeing the way she portrayed Lily, I like that they decided to age the characters up.
read before you watch.
While the leading actors and actresses have mentioned that there was a low budget for the development of the movie, I do wish they could’ve added in a few more key moments from the book.
My biggest suggestion to anyone who plans to go watch “It Ends With Us” is to read the book first to catch some of those moments because it’ll help you better understand the movie.