Colleen Hoover is a best-selling author who has written about two dozen books. Several of those books have been adapted into films or online series. The most successful adaptation was It Ends with Us (2024), which made a lot of money in the box office in relation to its budget. Because of its success, Hollywood immediately put into production more adaptations of Hoover's books. In fact, two were put into production in 2024, almost immediately after the release. A third was already in production prior to 2024, but the two that were green-lit are similar to It Ends with Us in that both are romantic dramas. The first film that got green-lit was Regretting You (2025) and now this film, which could be considered the third in a cinematic trilogy of romantic dramas with titles that end with a pronoun.
If you watch all three of the Hoover film adaptations that we now have, there are certain patterns or themes. Those patterns include a woman in a love triangle. It also includes a couple being separated by violence, either domestic violence or arguably vehicular violence. It also includes a woman constantly having flashbacks to a time in her youth when she was happier. It includes a woman having to make a pivotal choice to protect her child or her child-to-be. Often, that choice involves her deciding who her romantic partner should be.
Maika Monroe (It Follows and The Guest) stars as Kenna Rowan, a young woman living in Laramie, Wyoming. We don't get much about her backstory other than she works at a dollar store when a guy named Scotty Landry shops there and asks her out on a date. She falls in love with him. She even meets his parents. Yet, this film begins with her seven years later when she has just gotten out of prison where she was convicted of vehicular manslaughter. Her boyfriend was killed and she walked away from the crash. She had also been drinking that night. However, she's out of prison and she wants to start her life over. She does so in Laramie because that's where her daughter is. Her daughter is 5 years-old. She gave birth while incarcerated and had her baby taken by Scotty's parents. They don't want her anywhere near their granddaughter though.
Tyriq Withers (Him and I Know What You Did Last Summer) co-stars as Ledger Ward, the best friend of Scotty. He grew up across the street from Scotty. They were childhood friends. Ledger briefly left in order to pursue a career in the NFL. His career ended after he was injured. He moved back to his family home and even started building a new house with an incredible view. He's dated women but those relationships haven't lasted because he's really dedicated his life to helping Scotty's parents raise Scotty's daughter. Ledger has managed to turn an old bookstore and coffee shop into a bar, which he runs and occasionally is bartender.
Despite being Scotty's best friend, Ledger never met Kenna because Kenna came into Scotty's life when Ledger was playing in the NFL. He says he saw a picture of Kenna but when Kenna returns to Laramie after prison, Ledger doesn't recognize her. As the film progresses, he's conflicted because he doesn't have the same feelings about Kenna that Scotty's parents do. He gets to know her and starts to like her. He's put in the middle because he does love Scotty's daughter, which is also Kenna's daughter. The film is ostensibly about the romance that brews between Ledger and Kenna, but what shines through even more is Ledger's love for Scotty's daughter, named Diem. That love is easy.
The love between Ledger and Kenna is meant to be the messier and more complicated love. It seemingly is, but not in any substantive way. This is due to Kenna's character being not as messy or complicated. Yes, she's a convicted felon, but it's not as if she's an alcoholic or has personality traits that are problematic. Her crime was basically an accident that wasn't really her fault. It makes the path of redemption a bit easier than what are true tests of forgiveness. What comes to mind are films like Losing Isaiah (1995) and Dead Man Walking (1995), which are films about redemption that deal with more complicated characters. It isn't to minimize Scotty's death and how it affects his parents. To that effect, Lauren Graham (Parenthood and Gilmore Girls) plays Grace Landry, the mother to Scotty. Graham recently played the mother to a son who gets killed in Twinless (2025). That film didn't give her as much to do in terms of a full arc of dealing with and confronting the person responsible for her child's death. Here, she does and it's much better played.
Bradley Whitford (The Handmaid's Tale and The West Wing) plays Patrick Landry, the father to Scotty. He adds a warm, calming presence to the film. He has one pivotal moment, but he doesn't have as crucial a role as I might have liked. The film raises the point that it seems as if Ledger is trying to replace Scotty or fill his now empty shoes. A comment to that effect is verbalized in this film, but there's no follow-up. Patrick should have been the one to do the follow-up. It would have been an interesting psychological aspect to explore. It's an aspect that was somewhat explored in Monroe's previous film The Guest (2014). There's a nod to the idea of therapy, but otherwise a lot of deeper psychological aspects are brushed over here.
Rounding out the cast is Nicholas Duvernay (The White Lotus and Bel-Air) who plays Roman, a recovering alcoholic who Ledger gives a second chance by giving him a job at his bar, which seems odd, but he's a really likeable character. He points to similarities between himself and Kenna. I wish the film had developed or build those out more, bridging more of a connection between Roman and Kenna. Otherwise, it does seem as though Kenna is only interested in Ledger because of his relationship with her daughter. If that relationship with her daughter wasn't there, would the romance between her and Ledger have much of a foundation?
Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity, strong language, drug content, and some violent content.
Running Time: 1 hr. and 54 mins.
In theaters.