An interactive rom-com where you get to decide how the movie ends. Sounds great doesn’t it? If you’re like me and you love games where you choose your own destiny, like “Episode,” then at first glance Netflix’s new interactive romantic comedy, “Choose Love,” will seem like an enjoyable movie. If you’re also like me and chose to watch this movie, then you were probably disappointed.
The main premise of this movie revolves around the main character, Cami, who is choosing between three men: her long-term boyfriend Paul, her first love Jack and British rockstar Rex Galier. These three men were my first issue with this movie. Not only were they all cringe in their own way, but Cami also had zero chemistry with all three men.
Paul was boring, and if you were choosing all the decisions to get Paul, the storyline was equally as boring. The choices were pretty straightforward and you could easily choose to spend more time with one guy over the others depending on who you ultimately wanted Cami to end up with. Other than bigger choices like that, the only other choices were small ones, like picking if you wanted to hear good or bad news from a tarot card reader. Jack had an odd savior-complex that rubbed me the wrong way, and he also came out of nowhere. Rex was obsessed with himself and seemed immature. All three men had very surface level storylines, and watchers do not learn much about any of them at all except that Paul is safe, Jack is passionate and Rex is unpredictable. Moreover, there wasn’t enough development in Cami’s character to know anything more than the fact that she is a quirky girl.
I was not a fan of how one-dimension this movie was. I wish there was an opportunity to learn more about each of the characters beyond the surface, and the movie seemed lazy as a result. Overall, the plot was boring and the choices were not interesting. The majority of the choices were random and did not add to the plot, with a few important choices sprinkled in, but even these did not change how the story went.
The only choice that really affected the ending was when viewers had the opportunity to pick which of the three men they wanted Cami to choose.
The most interesting characteristic of rom-coms is how certain choices that the main character makes lead to a hundred different chaotic things happening, and “Choose Love” did not have this element, which took away from the beauty of a good rom-com.
“Choose Love” does not have the funny and heartfelt effects that most rom- com’s do; instead the movie is a series of insignificant choices that only lead to boring cliches. It is very different from classic rom-coms like “Sleepless in Seattle ” where there is a development of each character and viewers get to know them beyond the surface.
If you’re thinking about watching “Choose Love” alone, I’d encourage you not to. The only joy that I had from watching this movie was doing it with my roommates and only picking the choices that would make Cami the messiest rom-com lead. If you plan on watching this with a group, it can be fun if you try to make the storyline last as long as possible. Keep in mind, picking the “right choices,” or the safest options, can be boring and only make this movie last about an hour. This is not a heartfelt rom-com where you can actually connect with the characters, and in the end the viewer is left with an hour long movie of cringe interactions between characters and no stimulating plot.