Latest Sparks' romance not exactly a 'Choice' movie
"Pay attention!" the voice-over narrator commands.
"I'm going to tell you the secret of life," the voice promises. "Life is about ... choices!"
OK, I fell for that one. I thought our omniscient narrator, Travis Shaw, might be on to something more insightful on the subject of life's secrets.
He says our choices are the key. What I really want to know is, Did Travis Shaw really choose a hairstyle that looks as if somebody trimmed it with a Weed Wacker?
Such thoughts flitted through my brain while watching Ross Katz's romantic drama "The Choice," based on Nicholas Sparks' novel about a love affair between Travis (Benjamin Walker), a South Carolina good ol' boy veterinarian, and Gabby Holland (Teresa Palmer), a med student who moves into the house next to his.
The charisma between these two actors works like an emotional pinball machine.
Lights flash!
Bells ding!
Balls constantly flip back and forth between Travis and Gabby. It's utterly kinetic!
Of course, they hate each other at first.
Travis is quietly bemused by Gabby's tirades against his loud music, cocky manners and self-absorbed personality.
She wants nothing to do with this guy. Besides, he has a girlfriend named Monica (Alexandra Daddario). She intends to marry a doctor named Ryan McCarthy (Tom Welling).
What can happen?
Do we need to be reminded that "The Choice" is based on a Nicholas Sparks' formula novel about the messiness of fulfilling the requirements of true love in South Carolina?
Director Katz (he gave us last year's studied adult comedy "Adult Beginners") goes full-blown romantic here, seizing the lush beauty of the southern state's landscapes and waterfronts, cutting to footage of cute little puppies and really dead lizards as needed, and capitalizing on the raw chemistry between his stars.
"The Choice" blossoms into a delightful Sparks-esque romance, one riddled with pleasant surprises and revelations. Travis turns out to be the son of the local vet (Tom Wilkinson) to whom Gabby takes her pregnant dog for checkups.
She's beginning to see Travis differently.
Without spoiling anything for viewers who haven't read Sparks' book, "The Choice" soon takes a dark "Sophie's" turn, and it's such a severe change in mood and tone that it feels like a completely different movie, not in a good way.
The plot elements feel arbitrary and forced, with Katz using Bryan Sipe's adapted screenplay to rip teardrops from our ducts without much narrative anesthesia.
The sincere, earlier references to a higher power slowly give way to cheesy and mystical manipulations in this story, which began on such an uplifting and empathetic note.
In the end, the ancient knight guarding the Holy Grail in "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" provided much better advice on how to deal with life's harsh challenges.
He used only two words:
"Choose wisely."
“The Choice”
★ ★
Starring: Ben Walker, Teresa Palmer, Tom Wilkinson, Alexandra Daddario, Tom Welling
Directed by: Ross Katz
Other: A LionsGate Films release. Rated PG-13 for sexual situations and thematic issues. 109 minutes