Director Ross Katz
Cast Benjamin Walker, Teresa Palmer, Maggie Grace, Alexandra Daddario
Genre Drama | Romance
Rating PG-13
Release Date February 5th, 2016
“Travis and Gabby first meet as neighbors in a small coastal town and wind up in a relationship that is tested by life’s most defining events.”
The Choice is the 11th Nicholas Sparks book to get made into a movie, that’s impressive I must say. Let me get one thing out of the way right now, I would not consider myself to be a fan of Nicholas Sparks or his books. Do I have an issue with his books? No, of course not but I am a guy and I’m pretty sure I don’t quite fit his demographic, so it’s okay. With that being said, Sparks may have had something to do with the rise of Ryan Gosling’s career after his book turned movie The Notebook became a success and continues to be a favorite of females everywhere. I am not ashamed to admit that I am fan of Gosling as an actor (the guy simply has what it takes) so perhaps that makes me a fan of Sparks in some strange and indirect way.
I decided to earn myself some brownie points and take the lady to see Nicholas Sparks’ newest book turned film The Choice on opening night, what can I say I’m one of the good ones. She was excited because it is her favorite out of his books and to be honest I didn’t expect much more than a Lifetime network quality film. Well I have good news and women everywhere can rest easy because I was actually pleasantly surprised by the film.
Considering The Choice was only an hour and a half long and generally its tough translating a book to film due to time limitations as it is, it was still able to tell a story that felt full and complete. I thought the acting was good and Benjamin Walker played the lead male role of Travis with plenty of personality and southern charm. Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies) was fantastic in her role as Gabby and let me just say she is very easy on the eyes (this is a plus for the guys trust me). It may be very “Shallow Hal” of me to say that casting an unattractive female lead in a love story makes zero sense but it is supposed to be believable right? Casting acting veteran Tom Wilkinson who got his start in 1976 as Travis’ widowed father was huge in terms of the believability of the story. He is a fantastic supporting actor.
Is it for everyone? No, of course not but The Choice is an enjoyable film and certainly one that you should take your favorite girl to see on date night, especially if you’re too cheap to buy jewelry. And for the record no I did not cry during the movie, although towards the end I did get a bit of dust in my eye. They really should do a better job of cleaning those theaters, what are we animals? Also, I learned something interesting along the way which is the fact that every Nicholas Sparks book including The Choice takes place in North Carolina. Apparently old Sparky (my new nickname for Sparks) is born and bred in NC and lives there to this day. Well go Tar Heels, I guess (I just like their color North Carolina blue).
