It Ends with Us gets lukewarm reaction: Blake Lively's romantic drama branded 'sincere but completely ludicrous' by critics

Blake Lively's new romantic drama, It Ends with Us, has received mixed reviews from critics. Blake Lively's, 36, new romantic drama, It Ends with Us, has received mixed reviews from critics; seen in a still with co-star and director Justin Baldoni 'It Ends With Us tries to balance the realities of domestic violence inside a rom-com and a female-empowerment movie. All suffer in the process,' writes Mark Kennedy from Associated Press 'It's not Lively's fault that she’s so weakly defined as a character, but her performance still verges on vacuous,' Daily Telegraph's Tim Robey quips; Lively seen with Jenny Slate Rolling Stone calls it the 'Starbucks Latte of movies' that's 'generic enough to hit the spot' However, Blake also received praise for her acting chops, with Variety's Owen Gleiberman writing that she, 'fills the screen with her acutely aware and slightly tremulous radiance' 'A child of domestic abuse, Hoover writes with painful intimacy about Lily’s struggle to claw free from her past. The movie stars the Gossip Girl alum as a floral designer named Lily Bloom, who falls in love with neurosurgeon Ryle, years after losing touch with her first love Atlas after he joined the military; seen with Sklenar But when Ryle's violent outburst leads her to fear he may be an abusive partner, she turns to Atlas for help after they reconnect when she runs into him at a restaurant he works at. It Ends With Us is set for release on August 9 The film was the top-selling print book in 2022, remaining on the New York Times Best Seller List for over 90 weeks Blake and her husband Ryan Reynolds — whose superhero movie Deadpool & Wolverine became the highest-grossing R-rated film ever, after earning $97 million over the weekend — are set to go head-to-head at the box office this weekend with their respective films.