Blake Lively's It Ends With Us Movie Has Been Banned In At Least One Country

Can you imagine banning something as inoffensive as Marvel's "Eternals?" What about "West Side Story?" Or "Lightyear." Well, when you're a hereditarily ruled emirate that locks people up for consensual gay relationships, you're probably going to be a bit strict about what you let people watch.

Qatar is one of those countries that often makes headlines for banning this or that perfectly innocuous movie. It's not just the aforementioned Hollywood products that fell afoul of the country's censorship committee, either. Dozens of films have been either banned or threatened with heavy edits by the country that criminalizes unmarried women and men living together. Just last year "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" and, perhaps unsurprisingly, "Barbie," were outlawed in the emirate. Now, Blake Lively has managed to upset the committee with her new movie "It Ends With Us."

Despite the country's tourism board trying to convince everyone that Qatar is the place to be, the country is heavily controlled by its hereditary monarchy. That extends to culture, too. Art has to conform to the customs and laws of the country, and Lively with her movie (which came in second place at the box office this weekend not far behind the billion-dollar hit "Deadpool & Wolverine") evidently failed to consider the censorship committee's feelings.

Based on the bestselling novel by author Colleen Hoover, "It Ends with Us" sees Blake Lively play Lily Bloom, a woman who endured a traumatic childhood but who moves to Boston with aspirations of opening her own floral shop. While there, she meets neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (played by director Justin Baldoni), who initially seems like her dream guy. Ultimately, though, Lily starts to see elements of Kincaid that remind her of her parents' fraught relationship and her own relationship with her estranged father. After an old friend shows up, Ryle's abusive tendencies worsen and Lily is forced to confront her own past as she grapples with the difficulty of leaving her toxic relationship.

That sort of sounds like it might make for a decent romantic drama, right? Well, despite its good intentions and committed performances, "It Ends with Us" couldn't quite manage to win over critics, who are mostly united in their opinion that the film is prone to "tonal whiplash" and fails to truly examine and unpack the issue of domestic violence. But making a film which doesn't quite deliver on its promise to examine the effects of such an important issue doesn't necessarily mean it should be banned outright. According to Qatar, though, it absolutely should be banned outright, apparently because it has kissing in it.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, "It Ends with Us" has been blocked by Qatari authorities and will not be released theatrically in the country. This is, apparently, due to its "kissing scenes," but once can't help but feel the PG-13-rated film's message of female empowerment is causing consternation among the Qatari censors. That said, as THR notes, "It Ends with Us" features several kissing scenes and "non-graphic" sex scenes, which I'm sure didn't sit well with the committee since the country's own tourism website advises that "showing overt affection and intimacy in public is frowned upon."

The laws and customs of Qatar caused some high-profile issues during the 2022 World Cup, which was mired in controversy before it even got started. As Human Rights Watch states, thousands of migrant workers died of unexplained causes while working on the facilities for the global event, and their families are yet to see any form of justice.

So, the fact that "It Ends with Us" has been banned by Qatar is hardly the most egregious thing to happen in the country. But it is a reminder of how restrictive and oppressive the state can be, and will hopefully only serve to call more attention to it. Meanwhile, even as the film underwhelms among critics, Lively can be happy that she and husband Ryan Reynolds have just broken a 34-year box office record together. Not having her sort-of-okay romantic drama play in Qatar, then, is probably the least of her concerns.

"It Ends with Us" is now in theaters.