Movie Review: Safe Haven

A young woman seeks refuge in a Southern coastal town in the new movie Safe Haven, based on a Nicholas Sparks novel. Though the film is marketed as an intense love story, I would say that it is only 50% love story and 50% mystery. This is good news for the guys who are forced to see the film by their other half. The film stars Julianne Hough as Katie, the girl with an alleged troubled past who moves to the rinky-dink everybody-knows-your-business small town of Southport, where she meets widower Alex (Josh Duhamel) and his two young children. Katie is reluctant to get involved with Alex due to the secret that she is hiding that isn’t revealed until the end of the movie (unless of course you are a read the book before movie sort of person, which I am not). Despite her fears, Katie starts a relationship with Alex and becomes attached to not only him, but his children as well. The romance runs semi-smoothly until of course Alex makes a shocking discovery about Katie’s past.

The film does a great job of building suspense and shifts back and forth from the new couple in love to the detective from Boston who is looking for Katie. I am going to be vulnerable here and tell you that I have never seen or read The Notebook, so if this element of mystery exists within the world of Nicholas Sparks, then I am definitely missing out on something. I’d like to say that you know what to expect when you go to see this film, but I did not. I expected a sappy love story where the conflict in the story is manufactured as it is in a cheesy sitcom. What I got was a Law & Order type feature length drama with an emphasis on romance.

Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough in “Safe Haven.” Photo by James Bridges – © 2012 Relativity Media. All Rights Reserved.

Though I didn’t dislike Julianne Hough in Safe Haven, something about her performance seemed mechanical. She was almost emotionless during the entire movie which possibly was meant to show us that she was worried that her past troubles will eventually catch up with her; but she ended up just looking a bit stiff.

There is no doubt in my mind that Josh Duhamel is further carving out his niche as every woman’s fantasy in the romance movie market. And as much as I see him in this role I somehow do not grow tired of him. He was even convincing as the hot single dad who was trying his best to bring joy back into his kids’ lives after the untimely death of their mother.

Together Hough and Duhamel worked as an onscreen couple, but there seemed to be a lack of magic which I believe to be an acting faux pas on Hough’s part.

Perhaps my favorite element of the film is the scenery. The setting reminded me of a family vacation at the beach in summertime. It was refreshing to see, but was probably more so due to the fact that I am stuck in a never-ending Winter Wonderland like most people in the Midwest as well as the East Coast. For this reason those who live in these areas of the country might enjoy Safe Haven the most. Though upon leaving the theater I got a blast of cold wind in my face and snow beneath my feet, it was still nice to have a two hour reprieve. And those of us desperate to beat the winter blues will take what we can get.