Safe Haven (2013)
Average Rating: 4/10
Reviews Counted: 137
Fresh: 17 | Rotten: 120
Schmaltzy, predictable, and melodramatic, Safe Haven also suffers from a ludicrous plot twist, making for a particularly ignominious Nicholas Sparks adaptation.
Average Rating: 4.2/10
Critic Reviews: 34
Fresh: 3 | Rotten: 31
Schmaltzy, predictable, and melodramatic, Safe Haven also suffers from a ludicrous plot twist, making for a particularly ignominious Nicholas Sparks adaptation.
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Average Rating: 3.8/5
User Ratings: 67,440
Movie Info
An affirming and suspenseful story about a young woman's struggle to love again, Safe Haven is based on the novel from Nicholas Sparks, the best-selling author behind the hit films The Notebook and Dear John. When a mysterious young woman arrives in a small North Carolina town, her reluctance to join the tight knit community raises questions about her past. Slowly, she begins putting down roots, and gains the courage to start a relationship with Alex, a widowed store owner with two young
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Cast
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Josh Duhamel
Alex, Alex Wheatley -
Julianne Hough
Katie, Katie Feldman -
David Lyons
Kevin Tierney, Tiern... -
Noah Lomax
Josh -
Mimi Kirkland
Lexi
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All Critics (137) | Top Critics (34) | Fresh (17) | Rotten (120)
Keeping up with the movie's inane plot twists makes for a capricious good time, but an unimaginative denouement turns the whole thing into a fool's errand.
[The] final reel ... descends into the Vortex of Bonkers, delivering fits of unexpected laughter.
Plods along with dialogue just above the level of crayon scribblings, and the direction by the usually reliable Lasse Hallström is dismayingly sluggish.
It's as though the filmmakers lacked the confidence to stick with the basic story, which served every element needed in a Sparks-infused guilty pleasure.
On its own merits, Safe Haven is about as satisfying and filling as a Valentine's Day conversation heart, with far less to say.
The latest Nicholas Sparks-derived weepfest, Safe Haven, is being marketed as a Valentine's Day special, but the plot line is closer to a stalker thriller. It's sudsy-scary. It's also not very good.
While a predictable chick flick, Safe Haven is never dull. It's not particularly good, either.
...the feel-good finale is unable to pack the emotional punch that Hallstrom is obviously striving for...
A wholly inert lump of by-the-numbers syrup that's as boring as it is pointless.
It's sad to see a formerly-respected director like Hallström churning out such predictable material, while an audacious, smack-you-in-the-face climactic twist has to be seen to be believed.
This latest Sparks adaptation should please audiences seeking wish-fulfillment romantic fantasy; the new love depicted here is so pure and true it even receives supernatural endorsement.
Sparks' field may be fertile, but it's also rich in manure.
Expect to gag early and often, and consider breaking up with anyone who forces you to sit through this.
A bland love story that features a twist that feels more like a dupe.
It's typical comfort food filmmaking and that's exactly what Safe Haven is: a mouthful of cotton candy. Empty, overly sweet, and likely to kill you from diabetes.
I don't know when has the sexy south has ever looked dry.
Safe Haven may be predictable and formulaic, but Hallström gives the proceedings a cosy glow and there are a couple of twists before the end: one blindingly obvious, the other blindingly dumb.
The surprise ending will probably cause you to regurgitate your popcorn.
...my movie-cry meter is more often pushed into the red by war horses and estranged mixed martial arts brothers battling each other in common resentment of an alcoholic Nick Nolte than it is by revelatory love letters. Your mileage will vary.
It's beyond laughable ...
An almost unendurably sentimental tale ...
Nicholas Sparks strikes again with yet another film based on a misty-eyed novel about tormented seaside romance in the romanticised American South.
To this writer, it suggests one of those evasive US TV commercials for incontinence treatments or rheumatism therapies.
Unfortunately Hough is not really up to the part and Duhamel isn't much better than a nice-looking block of wood.
There's a good twist, the young leads are appealing and anyone who enjoys Sparks' sincere storytelling will enjoy it, even though it's overlong.
Audience Reviews for Safe Haven
Super Reviewer
Nate's Grade: C-
Super Reviewer
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- Jo: Promise me something Katie, you'll take a lot of pictures and only regret the ones that you didn't take.
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- Alex: I'm so sorry... just please... stay. Just tell me the truth, just tell me what happened. I don't care, I'm not going to let him hurt you anymore. Listen to me, I'm in love with you. If you stay I promise there's no safer place in the world than with me. You don't have to be scared... I love you... please stay.
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- Katie: At least I know when it's time to leave.
- Jo: You know your right Katie, but some of us don't have that choice
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- Jo: The good thing Katie, is that life is full of second chances.
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- Alex: You know normally when someone does something nice, you just say 'Thank You'.
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- Jo: I wish I had a good excuse, but I have a curiosity.
Discussion Forum
Topic | Last Post | Replies |
---|---|---|
Another film based off a Sparks novel! | 6 months ago | 5 |
Destroyed by critics ? but I loved it | 2 months ago | 0 |
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February 12, 2013:
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Foreign Titles
- Safe Haven - Wie ein Licht in der Nacht (DE)
- Un lugar donde refugiarse (ES)