“Your wife is ruining it and is dragging you with her. Why are you even involved?” asked one viewer of a recent comedic skit Ryan Reynolds posted on his Instagram to promote his wife’s latest movie, It Ends With Us.

The seemingly tone-deaf nature of the clip elicited an almost universally negative response among its audience, with many expressing a mix of disappointment, annoyance, and confusion, labeling the sketch “inappropriate” when considering the themes of the movie.

“This is the weirdest promo for a movie about domestic violence, like why are you here Ryan,” wrote another.

The couple, especially Lively, has been under scrutiny after speculation around a supposed battle for creative control between the actress and the project’s director, Justin Baldoni, surfaced following its release on June 21, 2024.

Lively’s detractors blame her for trying to wrestle control of the movie away from Baldoni with the help of her husband, who also made “contributions” to the script in an effort to market It Ends With Us and Deadpool & Wolverine as the new “Barbenheimer,” a two-movie phenomenon that captured both male and female audiences and urged couples to watch both in one go.

Ryan Reynolds’ latest comedic skit for his wife’s movie It Ends With Us falls flat on its face as viewers label it as “insensitive” and “cringe-worthy”

Image credits: vancityreynolds

The skit, captioned “New Dad Alert,” sees Reynolds sneaking into a faux press interview to confront Brandon Sklenar, who plays Atlas Corrigan, one of Lively’s love interests in the movie.

“It’s not every day the husband gets to interview his wife’s love interest in the film. It’s kind of crazy,” Reynolds says. “I saw a photo you took with Ms. Reynolds. Pretty suggestive,” he continues as he points out the actor’s buttocks in a picture.

“Is that genetics? Some sort of low-angle routine to pop off that region like that?” 

The sketch meanders as Ryan starts talking about a supposed “meth journey” he took and then tries to position Corrigan as his new “daddy.”

Image credits: vancityreynolds

Viewers found the skit far from entertaining, considering it “in bad taste” and “inappropriate.”

“It’s a domestic violence film you tone-deaf entitled millionaires. Deeply disappointed in your frivolous approach to such a nuanced topic. It’s not a comedy and you lack the ability to understand and address it properly,” one comment reads.

It Ends With Us is based on a 2016 book by author Colleen Hoover, and it follows Lily Bloom, a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood marred by the abuse of her father toward her mother, to open her own flower shop in Boston. She soon falls in love with successful neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid, but she starts seeing sides to his personality that remind her of her father. Questioning her relationship, she then reconnects with her first love, Atlas Corrigan, and becomes the centerpiece of a complex love triangle.

The movie began as director Justin Baldoni’s passion project, but he slowly lost creative control as Blake Lively and her husband became involved

Image credits: vancityreynolds

The project’s seed was planted when Justin Baldoni read Hoover’s novel for the first time.

“By the end of the book, I couldn’t even read the text on the page because I was crying so much,” he told CBS Mornings.

Baldoni then wrote a letter to the author, congratulating her for her work and forming what he described to The Hollywood Reporter as a “pen pal-like” correspondence via email. 

It was during these exchanges that Hoover convinced him to pull double duty and act not only as a director but also as the role of Ryle, one of the love interests in the story’s love triangle.

“When Colleen sent me that email, it gave me permission to believe that I could play the character. So we ended up developing the story together,” Baldoni explained.

The next step was to find the ideal actress for the main role. After what he described as a “three-hour meeting” with Blake Lively, Baldoni was fully convinced, and he cast her right then and there.

Upon its release, the movie became a box office success, grossing over $100 million globally in its first week.

Rumors of backstage drama were fueled by Baldoni’s absence and distance from the rest of the cast during the movie’s promotional tour

Image credits: vancityreynolds

The massive popularity of the film was accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign, with Lively and Ryan Reynolds at the forefront as the pair tried to position both It Ends With Us and Deadpool & Wolverine as a two-movie package for couples to enjoy.

Fans of the movie started suspecting some drama behind the scenes as Baldoni was unfollowed on Instagram by Lively, and the co-stars were never seen posing in any pictures together.

Rumors started gaining traction as People Magazine reported that Baldoni had hired a public relations manager on August 13, following a press tour that saw him be noticeably apart from the rest of the cast.

 

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Details of what exactly happened behind the scenes have remained nebulous, but Baldoni has shed some light on his struggles while directing the movie, confessing to having gotten “out of the way too much” at some points, fueling the rumors of the couple’s attempt at taking creative control away from him.

“Every movie is a miracle,  you’re navigating complex personalities and trying to get everybody on the same page with the same vision. And mistakes are always made,” he said in an interview with Today.

Detractors of the couple believe Reynolds’ inclusion was a power move by the actress, who is also one of its producers and used that role to commission a cut of the movie from editor Shane Reid, who was an editor on Deadpool & Wolverine.

Image credits: quizmaster6199

“There is literally not a single person that has sided with your wife since the movie came out a few days ago. Justin has overwhelming support,” one comment under Reynolds’ Instagram skit explains.

“If your wife and you wanted so much creative control over the project then you should’ve optioned the book yourself, directed it yourself and really spearheaded the whole project from the very beginning. Y’all had no right to walk all over Justin. This was his project, not yours.”

“Y’all come across as self centered, self serving and abusive. And the marketing of this movie is also all about your wife and her fashion and her hair care at the exclusion of Justin. And at the exclusion of any real domestic violence talk.”

The couple’s public perception appears to be damaged by the drama surrounding It Ends With Us, with the comedy sketch doing little to fix it

Image credits: quizmaster6199

@quizmaster6199 Ryan Reynolds has reacted to Succession’s Brian Cox calling him out for being greedy and for taking the role in Deadpool and Wolverine. #ryanreynolds #deadpoolandwolverine #deadpool #briancox ♬ original sound – Usaquizzone619

The movie currently holds a 6.9 rating on IMDB, with most critical reviews expressing disappointment at its handling of complex topics, especially domestic violence.

“It had so much potential and fell incredibly short of the domestic violence lessons learned in the book,” one critic wrote.

For many of the clip’s viewers, the couple’s efforts to position the movie as a romantic comedy and a vehicle for Lively’s products have been the most egregious aspect of its marketing campaign.

“Since you love to do everything together I can’t wait for the joint apology of how you insensitively handled domestic violence,” stated one user.

“Domestic violence is a serious topic, it’s not about you or Blake’s hair products,” said another.

The skit has 14,000 comments at the time of writing, most of them negative. On the flip side, it has garnered more than 1.7 million likes.

“Tone deaf and cringe.” Viewers criticized the sketch in light of the themes of abuse tackled by the movie

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