I was one of four dudes in the theatre watching this, having been taken by my wife. Honestly, I totally get the appeal of this movie. It tells a very compelling story with a meaningful message. It's actually a movie that had me wanting more, which is also part of the problem. For the positives, I think when this movie acts as a standard(ish) romantic drama, it works pretty well. As I mentioned before, I think it captures aspects of a very difficult subject really well; namely, confusion. It's hard not to be at least somewhat emotionally affected by this movie; it succeeds in doing this, at least in the moment. (Think of Saltburn)
But..the movie falls flat on a couple of levels. I think one is tone. It bounces around between Lifestyle channel rom com to serious drama like a ping pong ball, and while that can work, I don't think it does here. Especially when these characters - Jenny Slate and Hasan Minhaj's - feels like parodies of comic relief in these movies.
The film also spends way too much time on the romance, and not the relationships that would actually matter. We get frustratingly little of Lily's relationship with her Mom and Dad, and too much about a guy she liked back when she was 18. (Blake Lively). Isabella Ferrer looks EXACTLY like a young Lively and was really underutilized here. The sort of "love triangle" angle just fell flat for me as it genuinely felt as if the "other man" Atlas (terrible name), just sort of existed in the confines of Lily's attention. When she thinks about it or the plot needs him, he's there. Anytime else, he might as well not exist. It feels like his life was put on hold (and yet, he managed to open up a successful restaurant) ever since she left their small town.
Speaking of Lively...man. Her acting range is so limited; this movie really could've used a more expressive and talented actress in this role to really drive the emotions home, and it's a bit of a shame they didn't. (There is some controversy regarding her and her husband, Ryan Reynolds' meddling with this film, but it doesn't really impact the story - let's just say, Deadpool & Wolverine had more to do with this film's marketing strategy than you'd think). Another thing I noticed, but normally would comment on, were the costumes. I actually whispered to my wife during the movie that "Lily really loves crop tops, eh?" because it's weird how many times we see this specific outfit in the movie. (Call it sexist, but a lot of women have commented on the costuming as well online, so it's not just me).
I also feel like the way this movie is filmed makes it feel extremely small, despite the constant references to Boston. Movies that reference a place a lot should give you a SENSE of this place, but honestly, the world of this movie feels like it comprises of ten people. We get a couple of establishing shots here and there, but there's really no life to this world. Hell, not a single character interaction UNRELATED to the main plot that I can think of.
Look, this movie seemed to be received well by my audience and myself. But I also heard a lot of people talk about what it's missing from Colleen Hoover's book, a lot of which sounded relevant. And, I can't help but say it feels like the case.
