Un choix

I'm about half way on the Nicholas Sparks Love – Hate scale. I feel roughly the same when it comes to all of these movies. I sit there, counting down the clichés and thinking about how it's the same god damn thing, but I'm not tearing my eyes out. I'm not going to attack people for liking it, demand my money back after seeing it or try to call Nicholas Sparks mean names. I mean hell, he's made eleven movies out of this gig, I guess he's doing something right. And yes The Choice feels the same, and it's not really anything new.

Nicholas Sparks based movies tend to not be too strongly centred around the actual story, but the characters. The world doesn't change around them, and the events effect nobody but the protagonists, but the relationship is why people bother in the first place. The Choice is no different and this is no surprise.

The movie tells the story of a girl who moves in next door to a guy, they annoy each other and initially sort-of dislike each other, then time goes on and eventually end up loving each other… Then some other stuff happens. Look the actual story is nothing new. Have you seen Safe Haven? The Last Song? Countless other movies in this genre? Then you've seen this. The difference in these movies are the actual characters, however trivial or gimmicky these differences may be.

Travis is a formulaic easy going guy with a southern accent and a cowboy attitude, he is loud and obnoxious and annoys the girl next door; Gabby, she's an intelligent woman who's interning to be a doctor… with some obligatory drama added in, these characters interact and we see their relationship grow throughout the film. This is used as an obligatory comparison between the two protagonists, as he's introduced partying and listening to rock and roll. There are also some side characters in the film who are simply not people in any sense of the word. They play along as 'Friend Number 1,' 'Friend number 2,' and 'friend 1's wife' and so on. They also seem have all of the free time in the world, can ditch their children whenever it's convenient and look like they're auditioning to advertise picnics on the cover of some magazine as they all smile for eternity and are nothing but absolutely perfect at having fun and partying. I'll keep my complaints here limited, as this isn't too big of a deal considering that they are side characters. Some other side characters with more depth however appear in the film too; Gabby's boyfriend from the beginning of the film Ryan is a doctor whose parents own the hospital where she and he work. (They all have relationships that are super complicated to explain in these movies!) He's predictably played off as some 'Villain' character even though he actually doesn't do anything wrong… The morals regarding this part of the story I personally find to be pretty messy… If anything, Gabby is the villain… Travis' family including his father and sister are also present. His sister doesn't really have a story of her own but acts as a catalyst for dialogue. His father has a sad and cute little story of his own thrown in for good measure as well.

The movie uses many open shots of lakes, beaches, stars and so on to romanticize everything in the film from something as prominent as the protagonists' relationship to even minor details. Everything looks perfect. This movie is like an advertisement. It glorifies its' settings, praises its' characters and unrealistically portrays a life of… perfectness. It's an advertisement. You want to have a relationship like this, you want to live in a place like this and you want to be as happy as all of the perfect people in the movie. Anything that does go wrong is soon shown as a good thing because it showed how much characters loved each other or it helped in some way that wasn't obvious at first.

The dialogue is cheesy, but the actors are competent enough and do sell the emotion. Especially on Benjamin Walker's part playing Travis, I admit he turned out to be pretty likable even after being initially unlikable. I even felt a little for him in the final act. Whether they are phoning it in or not, I believe that the actors do a good job here. Nothing ground-breaking in terms of film acting but nothing illusion breaking either.

The writing does feel is lazy, as we fall back into elements taken straight out of the ten previous installments of this 'franchise.' It's also extremely unbalanced. There is a part in the film where I could have sworn that could have been the ending and it would have been fine… But it just kept going… But if you just sit back and watch, it's a cute little film to see on (or around) valentine's day.

Being predictable, full of exaggerated emotion and attempting to be as romantic as can possible be, The Choice is a hit or miss. See it or not. If you don't see it you're certainly not missing out too much, but if you want to see it, then by all means see it and you'll get what you expect. It's better than Safe Haven and not as good as The Notebook. But honestly that's just splitting hairs. You've seen this before, but if it's your type of film, you'll probably enjoy it. Over all, I personally found the story to be somewhat lacking in originality, but the characters to be somewhat likable and the third act to be somewhat emotional despite being predictable and rushed. This movie's no masterpiece, but it's not offensive either. It's fine. And hey! This one has dogs! I like dogs! 5/10

In a small coastal town, the veterinarian Travis Shaw (Benjamin Walker) works with his father Shep (Tom Wilkinson) and is very close to his beloved sister Steph (Maggie Grace). Travis is very successful with the women and dates Monica (Alexandra Daddario) every now and then. When the resident Gabby Holland (Teresa Palmer) moves to the next door house, she initially believes he is a pretentious man. But when her boyfriend Ryan MacCarthy (Tom Welling), who is fellow doctor in the same hospital where she works, needs to travel to another city, Gabby and Travis have a relationship and fall in love with each other. Out of the blue, Ryan returns and proposes to marry her. Now Gabby has to make a choice between her two loves.

"The Choice" is enjoyable love story with nice characters divided in two parts, beginning with a witty romance and ending with a heartbreaking drama. Teresa Palmer is the greatest attraction and never disappoints. The fat Tom Welling surprises those that followed the "Smalville" series. The unknown Benjamin Walker has a good performance and his declaration of his love to Gabby's family is the best part of this film. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "A Escolha" ("The Choice")

I'll save you some time. The lead female protagonist has zero redeeming qualities (no reflection on the actor - she did a great job of portraying a dreadful character). She is an objectively terrible person and I kept looking for a reason the male lead was into her apart from the fact that she's pretty. She cheats, leads people on, verbally abuses people, doesn't own up when she's in the wrong, rebukes, and criticizes, and we're supposed to be rooting for this girl? Seriously, why does the male lead like her so much? If a character is going to be that flawed, she has to be likable to redeem herself to the viewer. In a cliché Hollywood trope, the screenwriter was in far too much of a hurry to fling the two characters together to actually make the woman likable. (And yes, I have read the book. She has redeeming qualities in the book.)

I usually don't write reviews, but this movie was fantastic. The movie pulled at your heart throughout the entire movie. Its funny, sexy, and sad with a case of real life thrown in for good measure. The characters are fantastic, and the setting on the coast if beautiful. Did you ever have that real love in your live, and you could feel it slipping away, well this is the movie for you. What did you do to get it back, or to try and get it back? Did you walk away and say it wasn't meant to be, or did you fight for it? Did you give it your all? Well, take a watch of this one, and see what happens. You will be glad you went for a spin. Be prepared for a roller coaster for ups and downs on the emotional scale. In the end, can you make The Choice?

Greetings again from the darkness. When the word formulaic is used to describe a movie or book, it's typically meant as a disparagement. We must admit, however, that if the formula works, it only makes sense (and dollars) to stick with it. Most Hollywood blockbuster franchises are built around a basic formula – superheroes, romantic-comedies, alien invasions, etc. Author Nicholas Sparks (The Notebook) has taken his tragic-romance novel formula and turned it into big screen gold. This is the eleventh film developed from his writing, and it's likely to be another successful entry into the Sparks canon.

Director Ross Katz (Adult Beginners, 2015) is at the helm of the screenplay by Bryan Sipe (upcoming Demolition) and many of the familiar Sparks features are present. First off, the key players are all exceedingly attractive – Ralph Lauren model attractive. Secondly, there is a will they/won't they romance that will of course happen and then may fall apart, but probably won't. And third, some type of tragedy will occur that will kick off a stream of tears from a certain segment of the audience.

This one begins with a narrator's humble-brag promising to tell us the "secret of life". That narrator is Travis, played with an over-flowing abundance of southern charm by Benjamin Walker (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, 2012). His main vices are a tendency to use "damn" to the point of overkill in most every conversation, and his natural ability to attract the ladies. Oh, and he has a rescue dog and a lake house and he is a veterinarian. See, in the Sparks universe, everyone is beautiful and successful. Travis has his eye on his new neighbor, who is pretending to be annoyed but mostly admits to playing a game of hard-to-get. This is Gabby (Teresa Palmer, Warm Bodies 2013), and she is beautiful and a doctor-to-be. Gabby's current boyfriend is, of course, a handsome doctor. Ryan is played by Tom Welling (a bit heftier than his days as Clark Kent/Superman in "Smallville").

The beautiful Maggie Grace (Taken) plays Travis' sister, and Alexandra Daddario (San Andreas) plays Monica … she is not only beautiful, but she is also the nicest, most understanding and supportive "other" woman ever seen on screen. Tom Wilkinson plays Travis' veterinarian dad, and Sharon Blackwood plays the wise-cracking and match-making assistant Cora. If that's not enough beauty and success for you, we also get "puppies in a basket"! Come for the chuckles and tears … just not twists or surprises. Fans of this genre will get exactly what they want. It's a romantic fantasy set in the somewhat realistic world of doctors, veterinarians, and equestrians. The faces are perfect. The dialogue is snappy without being demanding (even in the God discussion). Many scenes feature loyal dogs, or a serene lake, or the "moon and stars". Even the difficult parts of life – raising kids, health issues, etc – are given the "yada, yada, yada" treatment. While Travis claims over and over that Gabby "bothers him", it's the kind of bother that creates a cryfest in the theatre … whether things go right or wrong. It's also the reason that all eleven Sparks films feature a couple of lovers on the poster. Just remember, if that formula works ….