Considering The Choice begins with a grim visit to the hospital and that very portentous line — “The biggest secret of life is making decisions” — you can guess what that actually is.

Without giving away any spoilers, suffice to say that Katz does attempt steer the storyline into deeper territory towards the finale of the film. Wanna watch it? Your choice, really.

The story is stale and un-enterprising, the characters have now assumed stereotype, the twists can be seen a long way off and the eventual coming together is generically as expected.

The choice you should make in life this week is to avoid this movie at all costs. Hopefully the makers of future Sparks novels would then rethink delivering clunkers year after year. No Valentines Day should either begin or end with a movie so bad.

A little unrealistic in its category, this movie may be predictable, but it will not bore you. You’ll enjoy director Ross Katz‘s choice of locations, and the subtle music in the background which enhances the theme of the story.

It’s the kind of stuff you might have sort of accidentally enjoyed at a pre-teen phase of your life but now only have contempt for simply because you have evolved. If you have a choice to make this weekend at the movies, stay away from this one.

Sappy and corny, The Choice will either make you bawl your eyes out or dull you into a coma.

Most likely, The Choice is perfect for anyone looking for a fix of romance that is entirely divorced from reality. Most likely, that includes anyone who is a fan of Nicholas Sparks’ books or past movies based on them. Or Harlequin Romance devotees.

Basically, if you’ve seen one film adapted from a Nicholas Sparks book, you’ve seen them all.