The Choice Will Bother You, Let Your Heart Decide

As a blogger, I was on a special invite list and saw The Choice, Nicholas Sparks’s latest book turned movie.  The following is my review of this heart touching new film.  Although I received free tickets for my friend and I to see the movie, no other compensation was provided in exchange for my honest opinions.

When feisty medical student Gabby Holland moves in next door to perennial ladies’ man Travis Shaw, they embark on a surprising romantic journey neither imagined possible. Travis has always believed a serious relationship would cramp his easygoing lifestyle, while Gabby is preparing to settle down with her long-term boyfriend—until an irresistible attraction between the unlikely couple upends both of their well-planned lives. Spanning a decade and tracing the evolution of a love affair that is ultimately tested by life’s most defining events, this story features a memorable ensemble of friends and family in Sparks’s beloved North Carolina setting, culminating with the question that every couple must ask themselves: how far would you go to keep the hope of love alive?

Whether you’re in a new relationship or something well-established, The Choice is a movie guaranteed to reach out and touch your heart in one way or the other.  It may make your heart happy, sad, or even frustrated.  It will bother you!  As the resounding theme is evident in the movie, you must let your heart decide.

Travis’s dog Moby is a major player in The Choice

Even if your relationship is with man’s best friend, the family dog, there is something in this movie for us all.  There is an ongoing story with a couple of dogs in the movie.  We found it rather comical that people oohed and aahed over pups more than they did over human babies.  Yes, The Choice is a love story, but there’s a little comedy in there too.

The Choice – Where Friends are Family

Unlike many movies today, The Choice has a focus on family.  Family and friendship were appreciated and celebrated throughout the movie.  All of the actors had great chemistry with one another and portrayed  like it could be your own best friends you were watching on the big screen. While it is rated PG-13, there is nothing to fear if you want to take your kids to see if with you.  Minus a few instances of using the word damn and what is considered a nongraphic love scene (these days), it could have been classified as a Christian love story.

Gabby and Travis have stood the test of time when tragedy strikes, of course, like it does in real life and any great movie.  Travis is forced to make The Choice, but just can’t do what he’s being asked to do.  He decides that he must Choose Love.

I won’t tell you what choice Travis ends up making or what the choice is related to.  What I will tell you is The Choice opens Thursday at 7pm in a theater near you.