Safe Haven follows Nicholas Sparks formula to a T. A Carolina venue, haunted pasts, kisses in the rain, and a last second twist all make an appearance. For the most part, Safe Haven is passable entertainment; however, the last second twist is so stupid it derails the film for the most part. The central relationship in Safe Haven is perfectly fine, unfortunately Safe Haven’s subplots are pretty terrible.
Katie (Julianne Hough) is on the run from her abusive husband (David Lyons). She ends up in Southport, NC: a small town on the ocean. She takes a job as a waitress and runs into Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widow with two kids who runs the local general store, and Jo (Cobie Smulders) who becomes her best friend. Katie’s husband proves resourceful however, and soon tracks Katie down, leading to a conflict with her and Alex.
Let’s start with the good: the central relationship actually develops very well. Katie gets in with Alex through her kids, who she bonds with first. Alex obviously likes her, but she resists because of her past and then he does because of his. The slow development of the relationship in the slow small town feels very organic and real; these two broken people find solace in each other, and the connection feels real and very nicely earned.
The bad unfortunately overwhelms the good. The subplot with the abusive husband results in some awful decisions by many characters. The character is so one dimensionally written that the decisions he makes are solely plot driven: he risks his job, reputation, and several lives for what appear to be shifting reasons. This character’s illogical activity creates a vortex that sucks in every other character around him.
Also, without giving anything away, the plot twist comes out of left field and makes no sense. The twist is supposed to provide an emotional catharsis of some kind, but the catharsis was achieved earlier with the emotional connection between the leads. As a result, the twist is specifically there to shock the audience and lacks any grounding in reality whatsoever.
Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough work very well together. Their chemistry is cute and nicely developed. Both actors have been in enough romantic films by now and their seasoning helps Safe Haven attempt to succeed. Noah Lomax and especially Mimi Kirkland are cute kids with some sadness there; however, it’s not hard for kids to be cute. David Lyons and Colbie Smulders are wasted and awful in their roles here. They will spend as much time as possible removing this title from their IMDB list.
Safe Haven is correct: this movie knows what it is and executes it. Unfortunately, the results careen off track when not focused around Hough and Duhamel. I’m still trying to figure out what is so special about the Carolinas. Every time I go down there, I get bit by so many flies, and stuck in 1000% humidity.