Choose Love | Is Netflix’s New Interactive Movie Good?

Whoever has never watched a movie and been outraged by a character’s behavior, let them cast the first stone.

When it comes to putting ourselves in the actors’ shoes, we are sure that we would do better. But would we really?

Following the footsteps of Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018), Netflix has just added an interactive romance to its catalog called “Choose Love”.

Here we can define the fate of Cami Conway (Laura Marano) and help her choose between 3 love interests: Paul (Scott Michael Foster), her current boyfriend, Rex (Avan Jogia), a musical star, and Jack (Jordi Webber), an old love from her teenage years.

But is ‘Choose Love’ good?

To answer this question, we first need to consider what was promised to us.

The interactive factor is there and we can directly choose the main character’s actions.

So, saying that you didn’t like the ending would be the same as saying that you hated a Subway sandwich that you put together and chose each of the ingredients, right?

Maybe! But beyond our choices, we can also talk about the construction of the plot.

Yes, our choices are important, but if we ignore the fact that we pressed a button here and there, would that script make sense if it were delivered that way?

I question each of these things before expressing my opinion, because I want to raise a debate about our interference and to what extent it becomes relevant.

After all, all the paths are pre-constructed and we are only choosing “right or left”. That said, let’s go to the movie!

The first scene of this film serves as a good summary of everything that will happen. Our main character, Cami, consults a fortune teller and the cards show how her life will have several twists and turns, and everything will depend on the choices she makes along the way. There is also a breaking of the fourth wall that is done several times in other moments of the film, enough to show how we will be brought into the film and indicate that the character knows that we are in control.

The central point of this twist is in her love life. In a stable relationship for 3 years, Cami still feels that something is missing in her life. And if it depends on what the cards say, soon there will be something left: suitors.

Minutes after being introduced to her long-time boyfriend and the relationship dynamics between Paul and Cami, we meet Jack. Jack is an old love of Cami’s. They dated during their adolescence and he left for Guatemala to help people. Now he is back and, by coincidence of fate, works at Cami’s niece’s school. Our third suitor is introduced a few scenes later. One of his songs is being mixed in the studio where Cami works and in a “meet-cute” she helps him make coffee in a complicated coffee maker.

Part of a good romance lies in the chemistry between characters and actors, unfortunately, in this film it is a little difficult to see that chemistry.

There are three possibilities and none of them seem interesting enough for us to get invested in the moment of choosing. None of the couples are convincing enough.

For me, of all of them, the one that interested me the least was Jack. Their first meeting is not convincing enough for me to want to see more of the interaction between the two.

That said, as a big fan of Austin and Ally, I took advantage of my opportunity to pair Laura Marano with a blond singer in a red jacket (who knows, he knows lol).

To see which one was more worthwhile, I did the 6 endings and I can say that the feeling we were left with is the same as Cami had at the beginning of the film: something is missing.

The film does not seem to be well-structured, which leaves some gaps that give us the feeling of an empty plot.

We also don’t care enough about the characters to celebrate any change.

And to top it off, some endings are so quick to reach that it almost seems like a joke.

The conflict is not convincing in the plot. My experience is that they focused too much on the choices of the character who was least interesting to me, and so when I reached my ending, it felt rushed and thrown together.

In conclusion

This is an average movie that offers an average experience.

If the future of streaming cinema is interactivity, then the writers need to find ways to better tie together the consequences of choices and make the plot complete.

For now, it’s just a little “fun”, a concept of: wow, I can make my own movie.

But I ask again: can it really be done?

Watch the trailer: