Safe Haven
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Cast: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, Cobie Smulders
Rated PG-13 for thematic material involving threatening behavior, and for violence and sexuality.
Let me just start by saying I am not entirely opposed to "chick flicks". If I am in a sappy enough mood I can find enjoyment from The Notebook. Last year's The Vow, however, gave me a very bad taste in my mouth for the genre. Safe Haven did not help. At least The Notebook had two lead actors who are actually very talented. It seems like each Nicholas Sparks adaptation gets less and less talented actors for the leads, yet somehow these movies keep bringing in the big bucks. Forgive me as I pick the movie apart:
The plot. Katie (Julianne Hough) flees from a violent relationship with an obsessed cop tracking her down. Sounds a lot like Sleeping with the Enemy, but at least that film focused more on the thriller side of the story than the love story. Not the case with Safe Haven. Katie ends up in a beautiful town in North Carolina where her future love, Alex (Josh Duhamel), awaits her. They begin a romance, but then Katie's troubled past catches up to her and threatens to ruin her new life with Alex.
It's not that the plot is awful. It's not original, but there are some interesting elements to be found. The problem is that it was so boring. It seemed to take forever to tell something that could have been told in about 20-30 minutes but why not drag it out, right? I felt no concern for any of the characters because I knew how they would turn out. Hough and Duhamel are adequate at best. There were definitely moments where Julianne Hough's beautiful looks could not overshadow her failed attempts at being angry or charming. Though the disaster that is this movie is not entirely the actors' fault. Yes, I'm looking at you, Nicholas Sparks.
You may have heard about the twist surprise ending. It's so blatantly stupid that it boils my blood. Reader beware because here comes a major spoiler alert. If you still have intentions of seeing the movie and don't want it ruined then stop reading now! Still here? Ok, let's get into it. So upon arriving in the small town, Katie makes a new friend named Jo (Cobie Smulders). Throughout the movie, Katie warms up to Jo and the two confide in each other and take walks together. At the end of the movie, Alex gives Katie a letter that was written by his late wife before she died of cancer. The letter is addressed to the woman who Alex would fall in love with. Alright, I'm fine with that. There's potential with what's written in the letter. But then there is a picture with the letter (why would there be a picture of the dead wife for the new girl to see? Random), and guess who it is??? JO!!! She was dead the whole time!! Are you effing kidding me?! So either Katie is crazy by imagining Jo or Jo is actually a ghost who decides to hang out with her husband's future love (by the way, how did Jo know that Katie would be the one?) instead of maybe comforting her struggling son. I guess Nicholas Sparks was trying to be as creative as The Sixth Sense, but he failed miserably. One of the worst endings I've ever seen.
The only redeeming qualities found in Safe Haven are the actors' good looks, the adorable little girl who plays Josh Duhamel's daughter, and the beauty of North Carolina. That is it.
RATING: D
It took me forever to figure out the ending and that Jo was a ghost! I'm not as bright as you Todd :) I do believe that it could have been a better movie and I totally felt it was like Sleeping with the Enemy but not nearly as good!
ReplyDeleteYeah the ending just ruined it for me. It was a little slow, but I was totally fine with the ending until the whole "ghost" fiasco! Shame on Nicholas Sparks for that idea haha.
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