Rights holder / Distributor: Columbia Pictures / Sony Pictures
Never again is a 2024 American romantic drama film directed by Justin Baldoni according to the scenario of Christy Hall, adapted from the novel of the same name by Colleen Hoover. It premieres in the United States on August 9, 2024.
Lily Bloom starts a new life in Boston, where after a painful childhood she tries to build her own business and make her dream of owning a flower shop come true. Meeting attractive neurosurgeon Riley Kincaid develops into a strong relationship, but over time Lily begins to notice in his behavior traits that remind her of the relationship between her own parents. The appearance of her first love Atlas Corrigan further complicates the situation and forces Lily to look at her relationship differently. The story is built around the difficult choice of whether to break the painful pattern that is already familiar to her from childhood.
Justin Baldoni approaches the material as a romantic drama, but gradually shifts the focus from the love story to the much more serious issue behind it. It is this shift that gives the film its strongest moments, although the transitions between romance, melodrama and the theme of domestic violence are not always smooth enough. The script of Christy Hall follows the main plot of the novel while retaining its emotional thrust. Critical response has been mixed – Rotten Tomatoes reports 55% positive reviews, with the main criticisms being the dialogue and melodramatic moments.
Blake Lively carries a large part of the film as Lily and manages to show the change in the heroine without turning her into a one-layered character. Justin Baldoni is convincing as Riley precisely when the disturbing aspects of his character begin to emerge behind his apparent calm. Brandon Sklenar has a different task than Atlas – a character who connects Lily's present with her past. Jenny Slate and Hassan Minhaj bring in a lighter energy like Alice and Marshall, while Amy Morton is important to the family line of the story.
Never again is not just a romantic story, although it starts out that way. Its most significant moment comes when the film pits love against the need to recognize a destructive pattern and decide whether to break it. This is also the reason why the production has provoked such different reactions – for some it is an emotional and accessible adaptation of the popular novel, while for others the dramatic material is not developed convincingly enough. Despite its weaknesses, the film manages to place an important theme at the center of a story that on the surface looks like a traditional love drama.
