The hoped-for box office success of this week’s cinema release, It Ends With Us, will demonstrate that the transition from Lady Deadpool to Drama Queen can be achieved. Now, I know I’m being facetious, but this movie does herald Blake Lively, AKA Mrs. Ryan Reynolds, taking on the lead role in the first-ever film adaptation of a Colleen Hoover novel. Plus, it opens only weeks after Deadpool & Wolverine opened, so it could be interesting to find the couple lording it over the box office revenues of this coming weekend in two separate films.

The 2016 Hoover novel has sold over a million copies worldwide and has been translated into over twenty languages, so it’s a proven commodity that global audiences will be familiar with, especially the female movie-going public. Stirring some controversy when it was published, it tackles domestic abuse and violence in marriage and relationships within the context of a romance novel. Hoover has declared the novel autobiographical in parts, and the main character, Lily, is a complex protagonist, having witnessed domestic violence firsthand when her father abused her mother. It’s what keeps her wary when entering relationships of her own.

Opening her own flower shop in Boston named Lily Blooms, Lily is courted by Ryle (Justin Baldoni, who also directs the film). It’s when incidents point to Ryle having poor control of his temper surface, that Lily has second thoughts about the relationship and whether it can eventually turn toxic. An old flame Atlas (Brandon Skelnar) shows up, and the guessing game of who Lily will end up with proceeds. 

The book's fundamental premise was whether we ‘Break the pattern, or the pattern breaks us.’ It remains to be seen how faithful this film adaptation would be to the novel. While it was promised before the release that they had stayed true to the book, the readers, who would troop to watch the film, would be the ultimate judge. Plus, I learned how the film would handle the darker themes in the book.

If you’re coming into the theater having never read the book, you might be in a better position to enjoy the film and not be so judgmental, as it’s more often remarked that the film version doesn’t hold a candle to the novel form, the source material. 

It isn’t perfect, as film adaptations never are, and I’ll be surprised to find many guys entering the cinema to watch this. More guys will wait to watch this when it steams and relive their Gossip Girl fantasies. Lively tackles the role earnestly, and it’ll be more a matter of whether you thought she was a good actress to begin with and a strong Lily. 

I don’t doubt this will find its audience and may very well have Ryan and Blake enjoying their box office perch, although this romance won’t come close to the grosses that the Marvel film is presently enjoying.