Movie Review: The Choice


The Choice is the first Nicholas Sparks movie I've seen in quite a while where the trailer made the movie look awful, but the film itself was actually pretty good. The past few films adapted from Sparks' books, like The Best of Me, were only okay, but The Choice makes up for those with exquisite scenery and a great cast.

Gabby Holland (Teresa Palmer) is a medical student from Charleston who moves to Beaufort, NC to study and intern at the hospital there. She has a tumultuous first meeting with her neighbor, Travis Parker (Benjamin Walker), after she asks him to turn down his loud music, and soon they're spending a lot of time together, even though Travis has an on-again/off-again girlfriend, and Gabby is in a serious relationship with a doctor at the hospital. Gabby and Travis's relationship continues to progress, however, and soon Gabby has broken up with her previous boyfriend and Travis asks her to marry him.

My fellow moviegoers were mixed on this aspect, but in my opinion, Teresa Palmer and Benjamin Walker had great chemistry together. You may recognize Walker from the recent In the Heart of the Sea, although he looked very different and didn't have a Southern accent in that film; as is the case with most of Sparks' male protagonists, he's very charming here. Maggie Grace, Tom Welling (Smallville), and Tom Wilkinson round out the cast in supporting roles, those of Travis's sister, Gabby's current boyfriend, and Travis's dad, respectively.

Yes, see this movie. It's definitely a "chick flick" but I really enjoyed it, and was even thinking of giving it 4 stars during its first half; however, the second half is a bit more cliche and sappy, so it receives a 3.5/5 star rating from me. Movies made from Sparks books in recent years have been just so-so overall, but The Choice is a bit better than those and would make for a great date night or girls night out film. I don't think I've read the book that the movie is based on, but I've heard that a few things were changed, so if you're a fan of the book, keep that in mind too before you go.

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