For those living under a rock, this movie was released some weeks ago, and prior to its release, it stirred up a pot of controversy during promo interviews. Apparently, the two lead actors—Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni—had a big disagreement.
The first clue that gave their discord away was the fact that there weren’t any premier photos taken of them together. Not only had that, but Blake Lively taken some pictures with the rest of the cast members, while Justin only took with his plus ones.
Also, Blake and Justin didn’t do any of the promo interviews together. This was strange because, as we all know, the antagonist and protagonist of movies usually do these things together.
Ironically, the internet was on Justin’s side because he actually addressed the true intentions behind the movie during all his interviews, while Blake apparently hijacked the interviews and used it as an opportunity to promote her businesses.
Anyways, the movie eventually came out, and the people that saw it in theatres weirdly had only bad things to say. Some said the movie didn’t directly touch on the main subject, which was domestic violence. Others said they felt underwhelmed by it for whatever reason.
After all this drama, my initial excitement for it died down, and when I eventually got a chance to watch it, my enthusiasm was close to nonexistent. I downloaded it and abandoned it. But then I decided to give it a try, and surprisingly, I thought it was really good.
The movie stars Lily Bloom (played by Blake Lively). She is a young lady whose father just died. It’s okay though because her father was an abusive piece of shit. Her childhood was littered with memories of her dad beating up her mom. Her mom was always sad and in tears, but she never left him. Why? Because she loved her husband.
Lily travels back home for her dad’s funeral, but when asked up on stage to deliver a eulogy, she can’t think of anything good that she would remember him for.
She storms off and eventually stumbles into Ryle (played by Justin Baldoni). They get to chatting, and they have a spark between them. She eventually leaves and brushes off the encounter, thinking she wouldn’t see him again.
Lily opens up her dream flower shop and employs a lady to work for her. Not too long, she realizes Ryle is her employee’s brother. Inevitably things get serious between Lily and Ryle, and they get married.
Minutes into the marriage, Lily experiences her first encounter with domestic violence. The rest of the movie expands on how she navigates this dilemma.
I already read the book years ago. So after seeing the negative reviews the movie got, I will say, I watched with a biased mind. I wasn’t expecting to be entertained. But boy was I surprised. I believe the members of the cast and crew outdid themselves.
They found a way to expertly bring the book to life. Lily’s shop was exactly as I imagined while reading. The acting, the cinematography, the choice of cast members, all top notch!
I wanted to especially touch on the choice of the cast members, though. Lily? They couldn’t have picked a better person to act on her. Blake was born for that role. I don’t care what the naysayers have to say. I think Blake killed that role.
And then Isabel Ferrer—the young lady that played young Lily—not only was she an exact replica of Blake, she also did justice to her role.
Ryle, there is no way I didn’t imagine his face as Justin’s when I read the book. Ryle was portrayed to be a sexy bad boy, and Justin was the perfect person for that. He also played the character so well; you’d be convinced that he was that way in real life.
I also love the way they concealed the DV until the last minute. I was convinced that Ryle didn’t hit Lily, and it was all an accident, until the end when they showed what really happened. And it was exactly that way in the book too.
I want to say, for the people that argued that the show didn’t touch enough on domestic violence, I believe that the point of the movie was to re-enact the book. And they did exactly that. So if there was any issue, people should take it up with Coleen Hoover herself.
Overall, I give the movie a 10/10.
Images used are my screenshots from the film...
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This is the first positive review I've seen about this movie. I'm quite scared to watch it cause I don't want to end up being disappointed. An amazing review this is. I might just end up watching it sooner or later
Trust me, it's not as bad as everyone made it out to be. It's why I hesitated before I watched it, but I was surprised to see that the acting, and the plot itself were both on point
Give it a try
Thanks for reading my work dear🤗