The Choice (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.

Director:

Ross Katz

Writers:

Bryan Sipe (screenplay), Nicholas Sparks (novel)

Stars:

Benjamin Walker, Teresa Palmer, Alexandra Daddario

3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Benjamin Walker	...	Travis
Teresa Palmer	...	Gabby
Maggie Grace	...	Steph
Alexandra Daddario	...	Monica
Tom Wilkinson	...	Shep
Tom Welling	...	Ryan
Jesse C. Boyd	...	Matt
Brad James	...	Ben
Noree Victoria	...	Liz
Anna Enger Ritch	...	Megan (as Anna Enger)
Lou Lou Safran	...	Katie
Vance Griswold	...	Jesse
Brett Rice	...	Dr. McCarthy
Ashley LeConte Campbell	...	Maryanne McCarthy
Sharon Blackwood	...	Cora

Storyline

In a small coastal town, the veterinarian Travis Shaw works with his father Shep and is very close to his beloved sister Steph. Travis is very successful with the women and dates Monica every now and then. When the resident Gabby Holland moves to the next door house, she initially believes he is a pretentious man. But when her boyfriend Ryan MacCarthy, who is fellow doctor in the same hospital where she works, needs to travel to another city, Gabby and Travis have a relationship and fall in love with each other. Out of the blue, Ryan returns and proposes to marry her. Now Gabby has to make a choice between her two loves.

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Plot Keywords:

tragic event | lilac the flower | naming a pickup truck | game playing | reading a book aloud | 

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Taglines:

Let your heart decide.

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Genres:

Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and some thematic issues

Did You Know?

Trivia

Clint Eastwood's son, Scott Eastwood, was originally cast in this film but was replaced by Tom Welling and put into another movie from a book also written by Nicholas Sparks, called The Longest Ride (2015), which came out in April 10, 2015.

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Goofs

The newborn puppies appear to be several weeks old rather than a few hours.

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Quotes

Gabby: I heard every word you said. You were breathing for me baby. Your heart beat for mine.

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Connections

References Dirty Dancing (1987)

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Soundtracks

Modern Drift
Written by Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen, Thomas Husmer, Rune Mølgaard (as Rune Molgaard) and Rasmus Stolberg
Performed by Efterklang
Courtesy of 4AD
By arrangement with Beggars Group Media Limited

User Reviews

"...some choices change everything..."

In the opening scenes of this film we see Travis (Walker) mulling over an unknown choice he has to make, en route to hospital, flowers in hand. Most of the film depicts the events leading up to this point.

Now, I stumbled on this film by idly setting it to record on a PVR (without knowing the slightest thing about it) and then watching it later on. To be honest when I usually do this, it is about 50:50 whether I bother to watch it at all; quite a few films get deleted without ever being seen all the way through; this percentage goes right up if it is what might be termed a 'chick flick' of merely average quality. However in this case, right from the start, I thought this was a well-crafted film, beautifully photographed and with a good soundtrack. I won't say I was hooked but I was sufficiently intrigued to watch it all the way through and to my surprise I was rather moved by it.

So my advice is that you should start watching this film with no prior knowledge and no expectations whatsoever; however if you are reading this it may already be too late, you may have already been told the main plot points, that the movie is terribly formulaic, yada yada yada. Too bad; watching a film is all about suspension of disbelief; this film is no different to most in that respect, and I'd argue that this one is best approached with almost no prior knowledge or expectations of any kind.

Maybe one or two expectations are OK; that of the North Carolina coastline being beautifully photographed as a backdrop to this film, and a nice soundtrack, not too much in your face. All movies paint a certain, usually somewhat unrealistic, view of reality, and this film is no exception; for example I don't think the coastline is ever filmed at low tide, when it is somewhat less, er, photogenic. The whole film is arguably similarly rendered, which hardly unusual and is the storyteller's prerogative, even though some folk might object to it.

Maybe if you are a chap who wants a movie to settle down and watch one evening in the company of a significant other, this would be a good choice; with too much prior knowledge (and a cynical head on) it would be easy to dismiss it as formulaic and schmaltzy, but if you are in the right mood this is a heartwarming, life-affirming story, nicely told. If I'd read half the reviews on here beforehand I probably wouldn't have bothered to watch this film at all, but I didn't and I judged it on its own merits, and to my great surprise it gets seven out of ten from me.

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 February 2016 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Choice

Filming Locations:

North Carolina, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,050,443, 7 February 2016

Gross USA:

$18,730,891

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$23,079,932

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nicholas Sparks Productions, The Safran Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

111 min

Color:

Color