“The Choice” based on Nicholas Sparks’ book, is a swoon worthy film. Safran Company, POW! Productions, Nicholas Sparks Productions, released it in Feb. 5, 2016.
The movie was directed by Ross Katz, produced by Nicholas Sparks, Peter Safran, and Theresa Park. Benjamin Walker (Travis Shaw) and Teresa Palmer (Gabby Holland), were the lead actors. The audience rated it 61% and the tomatometer rated it 11%. The film received three awards: “Best Romance,” “Best Romance TV Spot,” and “Best Romance Poster.”
Compared to the eleven book adaptations, “The Choice” was the least liked. Top Critic Udita Jhunjhunwala commented on June 21, 2016, “Sappy and corny, The Choice will either make you bawl your eyes out or dull you into a coma.”
Rating and Where to Watch:
Rating: PG-13 (Sexual Content|Particular Issues in Some Areas)
Streaming: VUDU, Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV
Runtime: 1 hour and 51 minutes
Overview:
Set in North Carolina, Travis is living his life with his dog Moby and his lonely lawn chair. He did not care that every day was mostly the same: hang with friends, barbecue, and hook up with Monica, until he met Gabby. She recently moved into his old neighbors home, with a promising future. Her relationship with her boyfriend, Ryan, is as steady as ever, and has a good job at the local hospital. But when she spots Travis at one of his many barbecues, she cannot seem to take her eyes off him. He seems to feel the pull after their first altercation.
Though Gabby tries to deny her attraction, she will soon find out she cannot. It becomes even trickier when Ryan goes on a business trip, and only has her neighbor for company. Travis takes her on trips with his friends and notices how well she gets along with them. His sister notices their chemistry and tells him that she is the one. In all of Travis’ life, never thought about the “one” and it began to go to his head.
Gabby invited him over for dinner one night without knowing it would change her life forever. In the moment, she confessed how she always looks forward to his flirtatiousness and that was all he needed to swoop down and make her his. They spent the rest of their days together, until Gabby’s boyfriend returned home.
At that moment, Gabby needs to decide if she should stay with Ryan or take a risk with Travis.
Opinion:
Even though a lot of critics did not enjoy this film, I absolutely loved it. It has the common trope of a good girl meeting a bad boy, and not knowing that they would not be able to get enough of each other.
I wished that they did show more of the time they spent together and how Gabby confessed her cheating to Ryan. That would have made the film way more interesting and would have left the audience anticipating what is next.
To make the story line seem more realistic, Gabby should not have been able to talk after being in a coma for as long as she was. They should have shown some clips of her re-learning basic everyday things.
