Unfortunate 'Choice': How Critics Are Panning the New Nicholas Sparks Movie
Benjamin Walker and Teresa Palmer in ‘The Choice’ (Dana Hawley/Lionsgate via AP)
“The Choice is the same damn Nicholas Sparks movie we get every year,” says the headline on the A.V. Club’s review of the newest big screen adaptation of a sappy Sparks novel. That pretty well summarizes the critical response to the romance starring Benjamin Walker and Teresa Palmer, opening in theaters Friday.
The Sparks formula — despite odds, couple inevitably falls in love, then couple is happy, then at least one half of couple either gets sick or drops dead — has become so familiar that it’s hard to imagine another film in this mold being embraced by critics unless it (A) completely breaks from tradition in some interesting ways, or (B) stars Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams and is called The Notebook.
Related: The Nicholas Sparks Countdown: We Rank 10 Movie Romances
The Choice does and is neither, which is why it currently has an eight-percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Here are some of the more, um, choice comments from reviewers around the country:
“The Choice is the cinematic equivalent of staring at a Hallmark Card for two hours.” — Frank Scheck, The Hollywood Reporter
“Directed by Ross Katz and filmed like an ad for erectile-dysfunction medication, The Choice is almost repellently synthetic.” — Jeannette Catsoulis, The New York Times
“It’s always interesting to see who they recruit to helm these efforts, since they barely require an auteur’s vision. In this case, it is Ross Katz, a co-producer on two movies Oscar-nominated for Best Picture (In the Bedroom, Lost in Translation) as well as the director of HBO’s Taking Chance. He either drew a short straw or owes someone a favor.” — Susan Wloszczyna, RogerEbert.com
“How many times, really, can someone repackage the same generic love story, presented with all the artistry of a travel-agency brochure and affixed with yet another third-act tragedy?” — A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club
“The Choice arguably raises more questions than it answers: How can Gabby go on a spiel about what kind of man Travis is based on the number of chairs he has in his yard? Why do the puppies born to Gabby’s golden retriever look like Chihuahuas? How is it that Travis’s hair stays in the exact same style, despite the film’s nearly decade-long story line? And why is it that Gabby is surrounded by books when we meet her, but then never seems to crack one again? — Caitlin Moore, The Washington Post
“Within the most lovingly shot commercial ever produced for the Wrightsville Beach board of tourism, there unfolds a schematic courtship between two humdrum leads, neither of which has whatever magic it is that endears romance characters to audiences.” — Charles Bramesco, Uproxx
“Beginning as a merely mediocre retread of standard Sparksian tropes, veering off into self-parody around the hour-mark, and finally concluding with one of the most brazenly cynical climaxes recently committed to film, The Choice presents audiences with a fairly easy decision at the multiplex.” — Andrew Barker, Variety
Watch a trailer for the movie:
