Fans of romantic comedies who enjoy second-guessing the protagonist’s ultimate choice now only have themselves to blame for how things turn out: Netflix’s first interactive rom-com, Choose Love, is officially streaming on the platform.
The film focuses on Cami (Laura Marano), a recording engineer in a perfectly fine relationship with her boyfriend Paul (Scott Michael Foster), but she feels like something is missing from her life. Passion? You be the judge. No, really.
She might stay with Paul. Or maybe she’ll get back with her old flame, Jack (Jordi Webber). Perhaps she’s discovering feelings for Rex (Avan Jogia), the famous musician. Beyond the buffet of boys in her life, Cami also might dream of becoming a singer instead of staying behind the scenes.
There are just so many options…and so many overlit rooms. Check out the trailer:
Judging from the trailer, viewers have myriad choices throughout the narrative, including whether Cami kisses her old flame or is honest about hating the rock star’s new track. It looks like decent fun if you’re into convoluted romances — but it does call into question whether a story can have a real ending if it’s all up to the audience.
How can we even tell what a story is trying to say about its themes if there are multiple resolutions? (Clue doesn’t count — it wasn’t interactive, and there was only one real ending.) Netflix has experimented with this format before, and no one knew how to feel about it then, either. How exactly do we judge whether Choose Love is good if its biggest decisions are left in the hands of people who are also on TikTok and doing crosswords?
Perhaps the interactive entertainment vertical only needs to prove that something is fun rather than “a good story.” That strikes us as a little sad, but we can’t always play Dragon’s Lair to get our choose-your-own-adventure fix.
Plus, if Choose Love sucks, we can also decide to turn on Is It Cake? instead. That show has only two options, thankfully.
Published: Aug 31, 2023 07:00 pm