*disclaimer, this piece is entirely opinions
You walk into the movie theater in fun floral prints, as you and your friends have been so excited to see “It Ends With Us” since you heard it was coming out. You snuggle up with blankets and popcorn, and anticipation fills your mind. That feeling is killed when the ugliest outfit you’ve ever seen fills the screen, and when the man who is supposed to be the hot forgotten love interest could be your everyday lumberjack. Instead of leaving the theater with rave reviews, you leave with your friends rolling their eyes as you rant about the Carhart jumpsuit for the gazillionth time.
Listen, I love Colleen Hoover as much as the next basic white girl. I mean, my girl sold more books than the BIBLE (and that speaks volumes). “It Ends With Us” was probably my favorite, as it was one of them that came the closest to being an actual book. But here’s the thing about Colleen Hoover books: that’s all they are, just something to be mildly enjoyed. The characters were relatable, the story was gripping and there was just enough spice to keep me interested. Yes, domestic abuse is an important topic, and I’m glad that this book and movie are bringing it to light but really, was this the best we could do? Colleen Hoover books, to put it lightly, are known for being absolute trash. The stories always have an extremely violent and dramatic backstory, as if that’s the only thing that could bring characters together. The names are stupid, Lily BLOSSOM Bloom, who opens a flower shop, and named it after herself? I’ll let that sit with you. Nevertheless, I was still excited to see this movie. I thought it would bring the same vibes the book did, something teenage girls could enjoy and come back to when they need a good cry. However, I was only right about the latter, because the wardrobe was so bad it brought tears to my eyes. I mean seriously what was that? Layers upon layers, Blake Lively looked more like she could make me the best drink of my life at Starbucks than the star in a romantic drama. Lively pulled a typical Serena and got out-classed by her best friend in every scene of the film. Allysa gave me what I came for, she could’ve been a better Lily Bloom herself with her fun prints and florals but no, Lily Bloom had to wear all the clothes she could get her hands on in every single scene.
Not only were the outfits bad, but so was Lively. Hear me out, I love her to the ends of the earth, but that’s just the problem, she’s Blake Lively. As I watched the movie, I tried to follow the heartbreaking story of Lily Bloom, but all I could see was red-headed Serena van der Woodsen clomping across the screen in her massive boots. I would have loved to have seen a less popular actress in the role, much like we did for both Atlas and his younger counterpart (who sucked by the way), and young Lily. I’d have paid double the price of my already too expensive ticket to see someone like Sadie Sink in the role, or literally any lesser known ginger.
And why didn’t they get an actual authentic red head? Why were our eyes tortured with the sight of her bad dye job?
Can we actually talk about Lively’s interviews? She completely ignored the fact that this movie is about domestic violence in her interviews. All she talked about was how much fun it would be to go see it with your girlfriends, and why was she trying to promote her haircare brand throughout the entirety of her interviews, but then shows up with the most horrendous looking carrot top? Justin Baldoni, who played Ryle, the antagonist, desperately tried to save face by actually bringing up the darker themes of the movie like domestic violence, but there was not much he could do. Lively also made some accusations against Justin, saying he was being “aggressive” in some of the love scenes, when in fact Lively literally wrote some of the scenes herself and many precautions were taken to make sure she was comfortable. Lively being ignorant in these interviews has brought some old interviews to light, and lets just say she was acting more like Serena van der Woodsen than an actual person.
Look, I don’t hate Blake Lively, I just hate her outfits.
I think she could have approached this movie with a more serious attitude, and I think we all need to come back down to earth and not put our expectations into a Colleen Hoover movie in the first place. I mean, the movie was just like the book, almost word for word at some points, so how much can I really blame Blake Lively and not Colleen Hoover? (Except for the clothes, I can blame her for those rags parading as outfits.) Hoover was the one who came up with the stupid names, the stupid backstories, and the stupid plot. I have read a lot of her books and enjoyed them, but I’m not trying to make them into movies. Let’s leave them where they belong, on our bookshelves.
