Cast: Benjamin Walker, Teresa Palmer, Maggie Grace, Alexandra Daddario, Tom Welling, Tom Wilkinson
Director: Ross Katz
The Choice is a story that spans a decade, dealing with a romance that has it all. The man is Travis Parker (Benjamin Walker) and the girl is Gabby Holland (Teresa Palmer). Travis is womanising rich kind in North Carolina with a private boat, outdoor music stereo, a pair of sidekicks, a smarter and nicer elder sister (Maggie Grace).
Gabby is a responsible medical student at the hospital, awkward in company, engaged in an unfulfilling relationship with senior Dr Ryan McCarthy (Tom Welling). They have an awkward first meeting, a series of miscommunications, and much flirting. Just as their relationship blossoms, tragedy strikes and the characters are forced to face choices.
This film is part of a number of movies adapted from the works of writer Nicholas Sparks. The Choice, at some level, does not work. It’s not fair to blame the actors because the skill it takes to make this genre work has to do with personality rather than acting ability. The dialogues, even when they are well written, can never fully justify this without the actors having a certain special quality that the audience latches on to.
The Choice eventually becomes less about the romance and more about the melodramatic twist that comes later in the film. This turn is not uncommon to stories like these, but it hurts this movie badly. What also weakens the film is that Walker’s Travis is, in essence, the main character with Teresa Palmer’s character being on the sides.
The writer is programmer, Lightcube Film Society
