Choose Love—An Interactive Movie

Recently, I came across an interesting movie, Choose Love—An Interactive Movie, that premiered in August 2023. I was curious as to what the interactive part meant, so I decided to give it a try.

Choose Love is an interactive romantic comedy, filmed in Aukland, New Zealand, streaming on Netflix. Viewers are allowed to make choices for the main character Cami, as she questions her relationship with her partner Paul when two other men enter her life.

Cami's happy relationship with her boyfriend Paul is disrupted when two other men enter her life: her first partner, Jack and British rock star, Rex. Viewers are given choices for Cami to make, which affect the future of the story. In the beginning of the film, Cami is having a tarot card reading and the audience is to choose whether she wants to hear the 'good news' or 'bad news' first. The film is designed such that, after making a choice and seeing the result, the audience may go back and make a different choice, yielding a different result.

The film has six possible endings that branch from viewer decisions:

·        Cami decides not to pursue Jack or Rex and returns to Paul; the two get engaged.

·        Cami ends up with Jack.

·        Cami breaks up with Jack; Paul appears and proposes to Cami. She then refuses his proposal, remaining single.

·        Cami breaks up with Jack, then accepts Paul's proposal, and the two get married in Las Vegas.

·        Cami ends up with Rex in Paris.

·        Cami breaks up with Rex, remaining single.

One person’s reaction was that interactive films, though intriguing, seldom match the appeal of a well-told story. But on the other side, you pick the ending you want, and it gives it to you.

It also offers the prospect of a female protagonist choosing to pick being single versus being in a relationship. I found this odd as I assumed the movie to be a Rom-com with a happily-ever-after. I wasn’t even aware that her being single was an option. The options I picked the first go around had her ending up with Paul. After realizing she could end up being single, I went through the movie multiple times to choose different options in order to get different results. Alas, it was late and this was time consuming making my 1 ½ hour movie more like 3 hours! One thing I might add though is that if you don’t pick an option in the allowed time, it picks one for you. I was curious but out of time to see who she ended up with if I didn’t choose any options.

On the website Rotten Tomatoes, the film scored 35% from 17 critics and 60% from the audience. I’d say its worth watching simply to experience an interactive movie.