Choose Love (film)

Lore & Background

The film follows Cami Conway, whose happy relationship with boyfriend Paul is disrupted when two other men enter her life: her first partner Jack and British rockstar Rex. Viewers are given choices for Cami to make, which affect the future of the story. For example, on the first such occasion, Cami is getting a tarot card reading, and the audience is to choose whether she wants to hear the 'good news' or 'bad news' first. The choices are sometimes initiated by Cami's breaking the fourth wall to directly address the audience. 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 either Jack or Rex and returns to Paul;

Reader's Guide

Choose Love received generally negative reviews from critics. Claire Shaffer wrote for The New York Times that, unlike other interactive films whose 'unpredictability [...] kept the gimmick somewhat afloat', the film was 'a series of disconnected, shallow interactions, each leading to a different predetermined cliché.' Liz Kocan wrote for Decider that the otherwise-likeable character design suffered from the interactivity. Brian Lowry wrote for CNN that the film 'strains the storytelling to fit the gimmick' and demonstrates that interactive films, 'while theoretically intriguing, seldom match the appeal of a well-told story.' Courtney Howard wrote for Variety that the setting was 'difficult to be fully immersed in' and that the '[m]en are one-dimensional at best, used solely to further [Cami's] arc.' Linda Holmes wrote for NPR, 'You pick the ending you want, and it gives it to you.' as a critique of the film, which she compared to AI-generated content. Adrian Horton, writing for The Guardian, criticized the 'flatly lit and oversaturated style' and 'overdrawn acting and stakes-less swooning', also calling the film 'another poor conclusion of algorithmic content' and saying that it has contributed to the 'oppression of choice' present in such media, but praised it 'for entertaining the prospect of a female protagonist ultimately choosing to go solo'. Lydia Venn writing for Cosmopolitan and Pratik Handore writing for The Cinemaholic both also praised the endings where Cami chooses to be single, calling them 'empowering'. Several critics compared Choose Love's interactivity to that of the films Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018) – also from Netflix – and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend (2020). On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 30% from 20 critics. On Metacritic, it has a 'generally unfavorable' score of 35% from 8 critics.

Branching Romance and Viewer Agency

The story of Choose Love centers on Cami Conway, a woman whose seemingly stable relationship with her boyfriend Paul is thrown into turmoil when two other men—her former partner Jack and British rockstar Rex—reenter her world. Rather than following a single linear path, the film hands narrative control to the audience. Viewers are prompted to make decisions on Cami's behalf, sometimes triggered by her breaking the fourth wall to speak directly to the screen. One early example involves a tarot card reading where the audience decides whether Cami hears the favorable or unfavorable reading first. The structure is deliberately revisitable: after watching the consequence of one choice, the viewer can rewind and select a different option, unlocking an alternate branch. In total, the film offers six distinct endings, ranging from Cami reuniting with Paul and getting engaged, to marrying him in Las Vegas, to ending up with Jack, to settling in Paris with Rex, to breaking up with Jack and refusing Paul's proposal to remain single, or parting ways with Rex and staying on her own.

An Ensemble Built Around a Central Choice

The 2023 interactive romantic comedy is anchored by Laura Marano in the lead role of Cami Conway, a woman navigating romantic uncertainty. Her love triangle is populated by Scott Michael Foster as Paul Swartz, the steady boyfriend; Jordi Webber as Jack Menna, a former partner who resurfaces; and Avan Jogia as Rex Galier, a British rockstar who represents a wilder alternative. Supporting the central drama are Megan Smart as Amalia, Cami's sister, and Blair Strang as Dan, her boss, while Benjamin Hoetjes and Nell Fisher, who plays Luisa, round out the ensemble. The full cast was announced in March 2022, the same month the producing team of Robyn Snyder, Deborah Evans, Mel Turner, and Axel Paton was confirmed. The screenplay was penned by Josann McGibbon, with Stuart McDonald directing. Principal photography took place in May 2022, with filming centered in and around Auckland, New Zealand, giving the production a distinctly international, sun-drenched backdrop for its romantic scenarios.

A Critical Reckoning with Interactive Storytelling

Choose Love met with broadly unfavorable reviews upon its August 2023 debut. Critics from The New York Times, CNN, and Variety converged on the sense that the branching format flattened the narrative into shallow, predetermined beats rather than a cohesive story. A New York Times reviewer called it "a series of disconnected, shallow interactions, each leading to a different predetermined cliché," while a CNN critic argued the film "strains the storytelling to fit the gimmick." An NPR reviewer drew a pointed parallel to AI-generated content, observing, "You pick the ending you want, and it gives it to you." The Guardian's Adrian Horton faulted the "flatly lit and oversaturated style" and "overdrawn acting," yet acknowledged the film's merit in letting a female protagonist choose to go solo. That thread of empowerment was echoed by Cosmopolitan and The Cinemaholic, both singling out the single endings as particularly resonant. Reviewers frequently benchmarked the experience against Netflix's earlier interactive titles, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a 30 percent score, and Metacritic assigns it a 35 percent.

From Auckland to the Streaming Shelf—and Off It

Production on Choose Love was set in motion in March 2022, when it was announced that Robyn Snyder, Deborah Evans, Mel Turner, and Axel Paton would produce the picture, alongside screenwriter Josann McGibbon and director Stuart McDonald. The cast announcement followed in the same month. Principal photography wrapped in May 2022, with the crew shooting primarily in and around Auckland, New Zealand, lending the romantic-comedy setting a lush, Pacific Rim visual palette. The finished product landed on Netflix on August 31, 2023, as part of the platform's slate of interactive titles. However, the film's shelf life proved shorter than expected. In November 2024, Netflix announced it would remove most of its interactive media from the catalogue, and Choose Love was among the titles affected. On December 1, 2024, the film disappeared entirely, ending its available run at roughly fifteen months. Its departure underscored a broader industry retreat from the branching-narrative format, leaving its six viewer-driven endings accessible only to those who had already experienced them.

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