The promos for the latest Nicholas Sparks romantic slog, The Choice, encourage
you to "Choose Love". Or, and this is probably a much wiser course of
action, you could just choose a different movie. The umpteenth (give or take a
few) adaptation from the author is like a distillation of all of his favored
tropes; bland, vanilla romances under sun-kissed southern skies, sudden tragedy,
manufactured drama, and star-crossed twists of fate. While that's to be
expected at this point, it's amazing how little effort goes into making these
films genuinely different from one another. If the casts didn't change Sparks'
movies would like episodes of The
Young and the Restless, telling the same story at an interminably slow
pace.
Ross Katz, who previously directed the
excellent indie comedy Adult
Beginners, is your style-free director this time, while Teresa Palmer and
Benjamin Walker are your lovers from opposite sides of the tracks. She plays
Gabby, a medical student who moves to the small, coastal North Carolina town
right next door to country boy and ladies' man, Travis (Walker). We're told
just how irresistible Travis is, which is strange because he, like all of
Walker's roles he's ever had, is pretty insufferable. Travis doesn't want a
serious relationship that would crimp his easygoing lifestyle as the town's
most eligible veterinarian, which is fine because Gabby is all shacked up with
her doctor boyfriend (Tom Welling, looking jacked post-Smallville),
until he goes out of town for a few convenient weeks.
Without her boyfriend around, Gabby
naturally gravitates to Travis, who takes her out for boat rides and romantic
nights out under the stars. Their courtship is brief and chemistry-free. His
supposed Southern charm melts her big city heart, until her boyfriend arrives
and she's forced to make "the choice" of who she really wants. Does
she stay with her man and the comfortable life he promises, or does she follow
her heart to be with the rough-around-the-edges Travis?
That's not the only "choice"
that needs to be made in the film, not by a long shot. But the one that comes
later, following a terrible tragedy, is best left unspoiled. Not that it's
played with the appropriate gravity such a decision demands, or perhaps it's
because Walker is incapable of giving it the right amount of emotional weight.
His southern drawl aside, he doesn't impress as a believable romantic lead, and
it probably would have been better if he and Welling had swapped roles. Palmer
has more chemistry during her brief scenes with Welling than she ever manages
with Walker.
Arriving so close to Valentine's Day there
will be no shortage of dates dragged unwillingly to The Choice. And then in a few months
they'll be roped into another one because, sadly, Nicholas Sparks isn't going away any time soon.
Rating: 2 out of 5
