Choices

"Choices" is a horrible movie. I say this because it is extremely boring. Not at any point was my attention held. It seems that probably the only reason it's still available is the fact that Demi Moore is in it. Sometimes it might be fun to watch a bad film, but in this case, it's worth skipping altogether.

There is a partially deaf guy who has a girlfriend, plays in the school orchestra and plays football. His doctor ordered him to get off the football team and his parents agree. His best friends are fighting to keep on the football team. His parents want him to focus on and excel in the orchestra. The guy gets mad about it, sulks, almost falls into the wrong crowd over it but he's still falling in-love with his high school sweetheart. All of this is done in the most boring and overly dramatic way to tell the story of this teenage guy.

I was bored with this right from the start of the film. There is a low rating on this film for a reason - it's just to boring. I realize that teens will get upset at the weirdest things -- especially if they can't play football anymore but to (almost) fall into a bad crowd over it and get huffy is way out there.

1/10

Choices is a little heard of film that plays like an After School Special. It's about a teenager who feels alienated from his peers due to a hearing handicap he suffers and his attempts to fit in through high school athletics. It's officially Demi Moore's first film but she only has a small part as the girlfriend of the main character. There's no way to have guessed from watching this that she was on her way to superstardom. The performances are pretty good and there is a great high school/teenage ambiance about the film. It takes itself a bit too seriously at times but the scenes on the football field are engaging and there is a great closing theme song.

How odd that Demi Moore received top billing for this movie when it was Paul Carafotes, not Demi, who was in almost every scene. And what an excellent actor he is, too! As a viewer who is also hearing impaired, I found this story to be quite inspiring and true-to-life. The hardest thing we such challenged people have to deal with is not our disabilities but, rather, prejudice. It takes super-special people to break through that barrier and succeed -- and woe to those small-minded people who try to keep that from happening.

Carafotes did a fine job, as did Val Avery (coach), Victor French (father), and Pat Buttram (Pops). John's father and coach fought for his rights. Pops, even though the proprietor of an establishment where rough teens hang out, provided good, solid advice. John is very fortunate to have such caring people in his life.

I've been doing research on Demi Moore and was glad to discover her first feature film appearance in the film CHOICES. While it has An Afterschool Special feel to it, one must remember that the ABC Afetrschool Specials were beautifully made that stressed positive family values. I was both surprised and delighted by the film, and while Demi's role as the hero's (Carafortes) girlfriend is small, she managed to already show her stuff as an excellent actress, though in this film which she made when she was just 18, it would have been hard to guess that she would rise to such Hollywood glitter and stardom. All the performances, football and musical scenes were very good, especially considering the $350,000 budget of the film. Demi and Carafotes had great chemistry between them, which enhanced the overall excellent quality of the film, which made it a very pleasing watching experience for me and my teen children. Writer Rami Alon (aka Jon Stevens) and his Academy Award nominated Georgy Girl co-director Silvio Narizzano did a glowing job with the little resources they had on hand making the film look much bigger than the money it was produced for. I highly recommend it as an inspirational, never give up in face of obstacles type film for all families, and in particular high school students.