The Film Stage by Michael Snydel

There’s a very good love story here, but it needed to be about one relationship, not the nature of romance itself.

Boston Globe by Tom Russo

In the end, though, the film disappointingly, even lazily, shies away from being anything more than you’d expect.

Arizona Republic by Barbara VanDenburgh

What grates is the lack of attention to details. There is a grating sloppiness to much of The Choice, both narratively and stylistically.

Chicago Sun-Times by Richard Roeper

The Choice is classic Sparks, and by that I mean it’s a mediocre, well-photographed, undeniably heart-tugging, annoyingly manipulative and dramatically predictable star-crossed romance.

New York Post by Kyle Smith

I was too bored to hate the movie. Besides, who hates a stuffed animal? If it actually said something intelligent or surprising, you’d be alarmed, not pleased.

Philadelphia Inquirer by Molly Eichel

If you're looking for a reason to watch pretty people and cry, then, by all means, head to the theater. But it pales in comparison to other Sparks works, especially when it gets into medical-ethics territory.

Entertainment Weekly by Devan Coggan

The Choice feels like Mad Libs with some of Sparks’ laziest clichés — a romantic rowboat, a colorful small-town carnival, a jealous upper-class boyfriend — and the result is a predictable, recycled mess.

The A.V. Club by A.A. Dowd

Again and again, Sparks takes the stuff of great four-hankie melodrama—love, death, cute dogs—and grinds it into a formulaic mush. Ask more of your paperback romances. At least ask for a different one each time.

Movie Nation by Roger Moore

The Choice is another endless, nearly-sinless-in-the-sun Sparks melodrama, one that benefits from a couple of charming leads and some folksy, down home humor. But that title frames it in tragedy. And that “choice” leaves this tepid romance mired in the maudlin.

The Seattle Times

Consider your multiplex choices carefully as Valentine’s Day approaches; you might find yourself weeping tears of relief when the credits finally roll.