This tells the compelling story of Lily Bloom (Blake Lively), a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents' relationship. When Lily's first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar) suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.
Others to round out the cast are Jenny Slate as Allysa, Hasan Minhaj as Marshall, Amy Morton as Jenny Bloom, Lily's mom and Kevin McKidd as Andrew Bloom, Lily's dad. This was delineated with precise dissection by director Justin Baldoni ("Rebel with a Cause: The Sam Simon Story" (TV movie) '15, "The CW Presents: My Last Days, a Special Event" (TV movie) '16, "Five Feet Apart" '19, "Clouds" '20) plus TV and shorts. Considering this filmmaker doesn't have a plethora of experience under his belt, his sequencing, staging and pacing was amazing and integral. Certainly his acting background can and has helped him in is ability to work behind the camera, however he simply has an innate ability to encourage his actors to exude the emotions needed to convey what these characters are like. He also starred in this and has joined that list of directors who also act in their respective films, i.e. Clint Eastwood, Bradley Cooper, George Clooney, John Krasinski, etc. This was executed well by writer Christy Hall ("Daddio" '23) plus TV, based on the book by Colleen Hoover. I truly understand why this running time exceeded two hours--given the subject matter that was persistent in delineating what happens to those that are involved in a domestic violence situation--both sides of it, however the running time, being 130 minutes, could've been cut to two hours and still not sacrifice the integrity of what the writer wanted to convey. This was definitely better than the trailer depicted since it went much farther than the victim being 'saved' and the perpetrator being carted away. The entire cast were cast well, especially Lively and Brandon Sklenar as Atlas, as being introduced to films, was strong and played his role effortlessly. He should go far in this biz.
Certainly if you like domestic romantic dramas, this is the film for you, but even if you don't, the characters were developed and carried out with expertise. If one doesn't have the time to see this in the theater, it being a small film, you can get away with viewing this on Netflix or whatever and won't kill any impact. The positive about this is that we need to face this issue that happens to so many people in this society, and if anyone is going through this or knows of someone who is, there is information of where to receive help during the closing credits.
Out of 4 Stars: 3 Rated: PG-13 130mins.
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