The Choice – Gabby (Teresa Palmer) and Travis (Benjamin Walker) – Photo: Dana Hawley, Courtesy of eOne
The Choice is better than I was expecting – which is to say it was a notch above mediocre. It follows the standard Nicholas Sparks formula – a couple meets cute, bickers ‘til they don’t, fall in love, obstacles (sometimes tragic) ensue, and love conquers all.
What is unexpected is the genuine chemistry between the leads – Benjamin Walker and Teresa Palmer – and some lovely supporting performances (including a couple by some very talented dogs).
The film opens with a man with a bouquet of flowers entering a hospital. Under a voiceover about the choices we have to make in life. The voice, if you close your eyes, could be mistaken (at first) for Matthew McConaughey – a velvety drawl as warm as a summer afternoon.
The man encounters a doctor, whom he addresses as Ryan, who tells him he can see her. He suggests the doctor is too easy on him; the doctor suggests he – whom he addresses as Travis – is too hard on himself. Cut to 7 years earlier…
The Choice – Gabby (Teresa Palmer) and Ryan (Tom Welling). Photo by Dana Hawley, Courtesy of eOne
Travis (Benjamin Walker, In the Heart of the Sea) is playing some loud music and playing with his dog, Moby, as he and some friends hang out. The music is bothering Gabby (Teresa Palmer) and finally, after his company leaves, she confronts him about it. They do not part on the friendliest of terms.
Gabby’s studying to become a doctor, like her boyfriend, Ryan (Tom Welling, Smallville, Draft Day). Her dog, Molly, is about to have pups (she accuses Moby of getting her pregnant) and in the middle of one night she wakes up Travis – who, with his father (Tom Wilkinson, Selma, The Grand Budapest Hotel), provides veterinary care in Wilmington – for help.
When Ryan has to go away for a few weeks for a plausible but fairly generic reason, Gabby and Travis reach the point where they aren’t bickering anymore – which ends badly when Tom comes home early and Travis takes a well-deserved haymaker from Ryan.
There is, of course, an on again/off again girlfriend in Travis’ life: Monica (Alexandra Daddario, True Detective, the Percy Jackson films) – so much so that his friends tease him by referring to her as ‘Boomerang.’ And, of course, Monica can see he’s in love with Gabby almost as easily as his sister, Steph (Maggie Grace, Lost, The Taken films) – who told Travis the instant she saw Gabby, ‘You’re in trouble…’
For the first time in his life Travis has to actually dig deep and go after something/someone – not a place he ever thought he’d find himself. And when he does finally win the girl, tragedy strikes – and he blames himself for it.
The Choice – Travis (Benjamin Walker) and Steph (Maggie Grace). Photo by Dana Hawley, Courtesy of eOne
The Choice drags in places – it’s slow to get started and there’s an almost interminable stretch where Travis is blaming himself for the abovementioned tragedy – but there’s some really good dialogue (enough to more than balance out the clunkier dialogue), Walker and Palmer have great chemistry, and Wilkinson, Grace, Welling and Sharon Blackwood (Halt and Catch Fire, Magic Mike XXL) – Cora, the vets’ receptionist – add a lot of warmth and humor to the proceedings.
The cinematography is picture postcard perfect – some night shots are particularly impressive – though there are stretches where, pretty or not, there’s just too much of it against too little content. The score is dutifully ripe when it’s supposed be and unobtrusive the rest of the time – and there’s some pretty good tunes blasting from Travis’ portable stereo.
The script, by Brian Sipe (Demolition), is too uneven – brilliant in spots deadly dull in others. Ross Katz’s (Adult Beginners) direction doesn’t really adequately compensate for the script’s dull spots, but hits the best dialogue well.
The end result is a generic romance that manages to be a bit better than mediocre. I expected that I’d hate The Choice but I didn’t – in fact I liked it a little bit.
Final Grade: C+