Un choix

I found the journey delightful. And let's be fair, it isn't easy choosing between Superman and Travis and one of several questions raised is whether the latter's southern charm and wit will win through in the end. And of course the journey's not going to be a smooth one and it is advisable to have plenty of paper tissues handy for the last 20 minutes or so. While the leads were charming, the supporting cast were also excellent. In all, a lovely film that is perfect for a romantic occasion.

Another Nicholas Sparks' (The Notebook) novel adapted for the screen where there's some love, some sadness, some happiness and a dash of mystery. 'The Notebook' was such a captivating love story that it cemented Mr sparks word on romance as the only word. The many mediocre stories that followed proved otherwise. Perhaps it's in the medium and the storyteller's ability to take the novel and turn it into a successful screenplay? But 'The Last Song', where Mr Sparks flexed his screenplay talents, is without a doubt the worst of the bunch.

Neighbours, Travis and Gabby, meet as most annoying neighbours meet, in a heated engagement over noise, which quickly turns from outrage to mild intrigue to full on schoolyard-smitten.

She's a doctor to be from a wealthy family and he a vet from modest upbringings – complete with a southern accent even though neither his sister nor father shares this accent. How peculiar. Was Benjamin Walker merely flexing his craft for accents or was it that nobody wants to hear Tom Wilkinson attempt a southern accent? And then how does one make the creative decision, do we remove the southern charm or remove Tom Wilkinson? You remove neither and pretend no one will notice, which, as you can see, totally worked. Smooth transition, my foreign soul totally couldn't tell that the Parks family don't share a familial speech pattern. But major digression there.

So, the doctor to be and the wild and crazy animal doctor – I know right, a wild and crazy vet because that's so common to find – more digression.

So, they flirt over a litter of puppies and with a few smooth moves are engulfed in the intoxication of the other. Things seem to be moving on swimmingly until things stop moving along swimmingly. Mainly because it gets a little boring. Or a lot boring, depending on the type of person you are. But the boredom is there, how much you want to drink up is entirely up to you. I personally could have had fifteen per cent less and a tad more T&A but apparently there's more romance in the awkward middle than the sexy beginning.

Give or take a few captivating moments, 'The Choice' is not as moving as 'The Notebook', nor is it as sexy as "The Longest Ride" but it is nowhere near as brain-dead as "The Last Song" – take that for what its worth.

I'll save you some time. The lead female protagonist has zero redeeming qualities (no reflection on the actor - she did a great job of portraying a dreadful character). She is an objectively terrible person and I kept looking for a reason the male lead was into her apart from the fact that she's pretty. She cheats, leads people on, verbally abuses people, doesn't own up when she's in the wrong, rebukes, and criticizes, and we're supposed to be rooting for this girl? Seriously, why does the male lead like her so much? If a character is going to be that flawed, she has to be likable to redeem herself to the viewer. In a cliché Hollywood trope, the screenwriter was in far too much of a hurry to fling the two characters together to actually make the woman likable. (And yes, I have read the book. She has redeeming qualities in the book.)

I usually don't write reviews, but this movie was fantastic. The movie pulled at your heart throughout the entire movie. Its funny, sexy, and sad with a case of real life thrown in for good measure. The characters are fantastic, and the setting on the coast if beautiful. Did you ever have that real love in your live, and you could feel it slipping away, well this is the movie for you. What did you do to get it back, or to try and get it back? Did you walk away and say it wasn't meant to be, or did you fight for it? Did you give it your all? Well, take a watch of this one, and see what happens. You will be glad you went for a spin. Be prepared for a roller coaster for ups and downs on the emotional scale. In the end, can you make The Choice?

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.