It Ends With Us review: Blake Lively and co-star are easy on the eye in hotly anticipated drama which is shallow and cheesy but with a dark hear, writes BRIAN VINER

It Ends With Us review: Blake Lively and co-star are easy on the eye in hotly anticipated drama which is shallow and cheesy but with a dark hear, writes BRIAN VINER By Brian Viner Published: 02:00 BST, 9 August 2024 | Updated: 02:00 BST, 9 August 2024 e-mail View comments It Ends With Us (15, 130 mins) Verdict: Bland but beautiful Rating: Colleen Hoover's 2016 novel It Ends With Us, about domestic abuse, was a monumental success. It was a New York Times number one bestseller, translated into 20 languages. So now, inevitably, it’s also been translated into the language of cinema, starring Blake Lively as the story’s heroine Lily Bloom, and featuring songs by Lana Del Rey , Lewis Capaldi and Taylor Swift .

The director is Justin Baldoni, who also plays an uncommonly handsome neurosurgeon called Ryle Kincaid. In real life, nobody called Ryle Kincaid who looks like they should be modelling Calvin Klein underwear has a day job performing brain surgery. Nor does anyone called Lily Bloom convert a derelict retail unit into the mother of all flower shops, while also looking like Blake Lively.

In point of fact, I’m pretty sure that my Jewish grandmother had a friend called Lily Bloom, and she looked like Danny DeVito. Colleen Hoover's 2016 novel It Ends With Us, about domestic abuse, was a monumental success. It was a New York Times number one bestseller, translated into 20 languages.

So now, inevitably, it’s also been translated into the language of cinema No one called Lily .