The new movie, “It Ends With Us,” based on the novel written by Colleen Hoover, has received massive backlash over its negligence to bring about the true meaning of the story. The movie is directed by Justin Baldoni and was produced by none other than Blake Lively, who played the main character in this rendition. 

“It Ends With Us” follows the story of a woman, Lily Bloom, and her struggles with domestic violence while in her relationship with a man named Ryle. It shows how she starts with just going along with the abuse until she finally realizes she needs to escape the situation, such as when he “accidentally” pushes her down a flight of stairs during one of their arguments. 

Carterville freshman Peyton Applehans said, “ I liked the movie and enjoyed watching it. After reading the book, there were definitely some differences, but it was still a very good movie.”

After the movie was released, the cast received massive criticism because many people believed that they were trying to make the movie come off as some sort of rom-com, rather than a movie to relate to many women who have gone through domestic violence themselves. This is shown through the fact that Blake Lively, producer and the actress who plays the main character has been using the press for the movie to promote things such as her hair care line, and how she blatantly ignores questions when asked about the domestic violence in the movie. 

When asked about their opinion on the movie, sophomore Callie Street said, “I think that the book was better and I didn’t believe that Blake Lively fit the description of Lily, however I still like how the movie brought Hoover’s ideas to life.” 

Many viewers who read the story beforehand agree with the fact that the cast is almost “sugar coating” what this story truly is about. Instead of bringing awareness to domestic violence and empowering women to get out of situations like that, they are making the movie out to seem as a light hearted romance movie about a girl and her two lovers. 

Addy Horn, a junior at Carterville High School went on to say, “Compared to the book, I feel like the movie could have had more details that were discussed heavily throughout the novel such as Emerson not being able to stay the night with Ryle until she could talk.”

Out of the whole cast, there is only one who has come out and truly talked about the meaning behind the movie, and that was Justin Baldoni. The rest of the cast, particularly Blake Lively and her husband Ryan Reynolds, have simply been promoting a rom-com and have been ignoring what the movie is truly about. 

Due to this many have spoken out about their opinions on the movie and most of the cast has came out and apologized for the way they have promoted the movie. Overall, this movie is definitely worth watching, although it may not be exactly as many envisioned it while reading the novel, it is still a great adaptation of the novel and shows the main points of domestic violence.