User reviews

I watched Safe Haven knowing that Nicholas Sparks wrote the story, and not having read the book. This movie completely exceeded my expectations. As I write this, the tears are drying on my face. I believed the chemistry was there with the actors and the romance had a good build-up (not rushed). I like that the story was easy to follow. The actions scenes were well-directed and realistic. I like how the story incorporates action, suspense, drama, and romance, all in one. What really moved (shocked) me was the ending. It was so beautiful and I just started bawling. It was so moving. As a whole, I really enjoyed this movie.

Director Lasse Hallström pulls off a surprise ending to this otherwise seemingly ordinary romantic thriller; in doing so, he redeemed what would otherwise have been a movie not worth a mention. Sure, the movie is sweet for the most part and the dramatic moments are nothing to brag about, but Hallström has been hiding the real love story all along; when it's revealed in the last scenes, we ask ourselves, how could I have not seen this and then you melt. But you do have to stick it out to the end. I don't wish to spill the beans so I'll keep mum about it. I understand some viewers are not going to be interested in the movie because of the cast, but the director's following is not without merit; after all he delivered Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Chocolat and Cider House Rules, and it's his uncanny ability to tell a story like no others is what made me want to watch the movie.

Great suspenseful romance, great casting and beautiful location. Acting is great, characters are great- in the mood for a good romance- Nicolas Sparks is your man. Can't see how anyone can have anything to gripe about in this film.

I took my girlfriend to see this, mostly as she cant miss a love story film.... she wasn't disappointed with this. She loved every minute of it. As a male, I thought it was a bit wet, but still enjoyed it. Hough was an easy actress to watch, not only pretty, but accomplished at her art. This was seemingly written for her girlish look and persona. The scenery and cinematography were nothing short of amazing... Locations were perfect, id live there in a heartbeat.... Duhamal was frankly excellent in this role too, he played his part perfectly, and was the perfect choice for this film.

The script was given a twist, and I sat through most of the film not quiet sure what was going to happen next, it definitely kept me intrigued, although I found it a little slow at a few points, i still walked away liking the film as a whole.

Definitely worth going to see, certainly on the big screen, as the locations were amazing....

I will not compare this movie with the novel on which it is based because I have not read it. "Safe haven" is not innovator at all, it is one more romantic drama with a quiet predictable ending, but at the same time, with some mystery and some twists that kept me amused and paying attention during its entire length. It is not as good as "The notebook", but it is better than "Dear John" and "The lucky one", in my opinion. Anyway, these four are very alike to each other and based on the respective novels written by the same author. Lasse Hallstrom proofs again he is an efficient director of dramas (I cannot say versatile, because he has not directed more genres ). He has been able to take advantage of the cast, which is not particularly great, but good enough. The photography is one of the best elements of the movie. It is mainly located in Northern Carolina (in a quiet coastal village) and I really liked the environment. The pace is fluid. It made me pay attention from the beginning. It does not obviously have the same pace that action movies should have. The plot contains just a few good unexpected twists and some flashbacks. The plot is easy to follow and adds no confusion, which is good. The acting is good enough. I am not a fan of any actor from this mo vie, but they all did a decent job and are believable in their respective roles. Josh Dushamel and Julianne Hough are the two leading ones, specially her, who is not famous at all. In conclusion, those who really like this sort of movies will surely enjoy this one even though it is not a top romantic drama. The intrigue and photography are added value. The cast is not great, but good enough. The film is well-paced, but it is not original at all. 7,25.

If someone were to tell me that the latest Nicholas Sparks novel-to-a-movie adaptation would be one that starred two ridiculously attractive actors playing characters who almost fall in love when a secret from the past that can keep them apart is revealed nearly thirty minutes before the movie ends ... I would say "No $--t! Have you not been paying attention!?" Anybody who does not reside in a cave would know this.

Safe Haven is yet the latest of Sparks' novels to follow this same "winning" (they continue to be profitable!) formula/pattern and it rather saddens me this is director Lasse Hallstrom's SECOND Sparks film as the (thrice) Oscar-nominated director has made GREAT films in the past such as The Cider House Rules, Chocolat, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and Salmon Fishing on the Yemen (I've also just realized his greatest films have an edible word in the title).

Safe Haven stars Julianne Hough (Rock of Ages) as Katie, a beautiful young woman on the run from her past. Safe Haven also stars Josh Duhamel (New Year's Eve) as Alex, a handsome widower and saintly father raising two young children in a small, coastal North Carolina town.

The two meet soon after her arrival in town and begin a friendship (rather reluctantly on her part) after she meets him at the small convenience store he runs -- his cute daughter runs the cash register! -- as he helps her with an odd assortment of items and he answers some even stranger movie-scripted questions. He even gets her a bicycle with a basket on the front (which she takes as an affront) and he orders her yellow paint. Wh-what? Exactly.

Their entire relationship is contrived in a connect-the-dots Nicholas Sparks pattern and the film's supporting players each have a single purpose for the movie -- her jerk of an ex looking for her (David Lyons - Eat Pray Love), his cop pal who can discover her secret in an instant (Ric Reitz - Flight), his children to either look cute or get into trouble, and her country neighbor giving her relationship advice on Alex (Cobie Smulders - The Avengers).

Hallstrom has made this better than most sappy melodramatic romances (and Hough and Duhamel are both likable-enough stars) but Sparks' over-the-top climatic children-in-peril moments have become eye-rolling. The film is standard Nicholas Sparks malarkey and anybody who has watched the movies based on his work knows they have much in common. This can be good or bad depending upon the person.

Beautiful actors? Check. Beautiful scenery? Check. Romance? Check. Melodrama? Check. More melodrama? Check. A scene in or near the water? Check. A young one in trouble? Check. Good story? ... uh, Bueller?

if you are looking for a love movie then you had made the right choice this movie is a simple story yet good story lining not as well as your expectations but you will love it. if your hoping for a second notebook you have to know its not that good...

okay maybe Julianne Hough is not the right actress to be in this role but she did her best and you may like her innocence in her role but i didn't like her so much...

Directed by Lasse Hallström, the movie will teach us that in the darkest hour, love is the only light that shines there in… the dark…or something like that. An affirming and suspenseful story about a young woman's struggle to love again description will work out just fine...

i don't want to talk so much about the movie go watch it what are you waiting for and maybe you will use some tissues so go for it and have a good time...

its my first review and I'm not good as well in English hope it helps tank you for reading...

I just read a few negative professional critics' reviews of this movie, and I'm still wondering why they're so clueless. This is a combination of a damsel in distress story and a fairy tale aimed at female romance readers/viewers and should be evaluated as such, not as a story requiring the utmost in verisimilitude. The earnings for the movie show that it has reached and pleased that kind of audience. If you suspend disbelief, you'll be able to enjoy it and occasionally be moved by it. Some movies are meant for niche entertainment (like this one), and others are designed to reveal important truths about life, history and human nature. It's the old apples and oranges comparison, guys. In reviewing a fairy tale in terms of a serious story, you reveal your misunderstanding of both.

'Safe Haven' is from the same author as romantic classic 'The Notebook.' 'Safe Haven' is not exactly as generic as 'The Notebook' but it does qualify as pretty boring in terms of cinematic exploration.

Despite the story – on paper – seeming fairly interesting and relatively unique to the romantic genre, the film still manages to bore you for the first hour of it. In fact, the last 30 minutes of the film are sadly the most interesting. Before that we have endless conversations that seem pointless and clichéd, naff romantic gestures and unrealistic characters. Domestic abuse is sadly a very real problem for many but this film somehow makes the issue seem very unrealistic and as something so dramatic it could never happen in real life. Beautiful people deal with their problems in a beautiful, idyllic small town very quickly and very easily, it isn't exactly interesting.

The acting was a lot better than I had expected; Julianne Hough was a bit flat in some scenes but her performance wasn't bad – just not memorable. Josh Duhamel gave a fairly good performance; he was not playing a pretty face with zero background like he has done in other films and he managed to show he can act with at least a little depth. David Lyons gave the best performance in the film but unfortunately had the least amount of screen time. Playing the creepy, alcoholic, abusive husband, he made the final act worth watching and was quite scary.

Overall, the film certainly is not a bad film; it just isn't a very interesting or memorable one. It's full of clichés and there are not many emotional, heart-warming scenes so it is a little bit bland.

I thoroughly enjoyed this as I do most Nicholas Sparks adaptions. You basically know what your going to get going in so you can't complain too much. There's star crossed romance, a small North Carolina town, a body off water (usually including a boat ride, a rain storm or at least some kissing in the rain), a demented ex-boyfriend or husband, a kid and/or an older grandma or uncle type person. (Red West in this case) -I remember him from 'Roadhouse', he hasn't aged at all.

This story was more of a drama/thriller than most of Sparks' straight out romances and reminded me very much of that Julia Roberts movie 'Sleeping with the Enemy'. The story follows a woman on the run who starts a new life in a small (North Carolina) town and reluctantly falls for a widowed father. It's suspenseful, full of twists and turns, some mystery and a big twist at the end -which after reading the book I'd been curious if they'd even include in the movie because its so random.

I enjoyed both Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel, their romance and chemistry was good, not great or epic (The Notebook) but nice, believable.

I also really enjoyed David Lyons, who takes on the tasty role of the bad guy here. He's the kind of character you love to hate and it was intriguing watching him slowly unravel into an alcoholic haze in his hunt for Katie.

And (despite myself) I liked the ending with the letter "to her." Now that was a real Nicholas Sparks moment. 6/16/15

I really enjoyed this romantic thriller, as it kept me guessing until it's explosive end! I appreciated how colourful the filming locations were and the look and feel like a real film. I also liked the plot, one where a mysterious young woman named Katie (Julianne Hough) escapes from somewhere and arrives in a delightful town called Southport, North Carolina. The town, itself, feels like you could live there. Although the Katie character is so secretive about the reason why she's there, she has bits and pieces of memories of a life she left behind, but as she falls in love with a store owner named Alex (Josh Duhamel), everything comes to a head. The few characters were great and supporting actors. Sadly, it was noted that this was actor Red West's final role before he passed away in 2017.

With its unique plot, Safe Haven is guaranteed to keep you entertained throughout the film. The plot includes surprising twists which will keep you on your toes. Although the storyline may seem complex and unclear, it is not hard to follow, especially when the characters reveal more information as the film progresses.

Safe Haven features a great mix between romance and suspense. From teenage girls to adult males, it is an entertaining option for a variety of audiences. The romance will keep you emotionally attached while the suspense will want make you stay on your seat. Even with the intensity that comes with the suspense, there is occasional humor to lighten the mood.

The protagonists are likable, and you will surely become attached to them. Whether it is fear and despair or happiness and excitement, you will go on an emotional ride similar to that of the characters. Safe Haven is the film to watch if you are looking for a fun night.

A good romantic comedy is something I enjoy talking about, and my single relationship status has never been a merit for not liking a particular film of the genre. Just thought I'd make that clear, so I didn't have to sift through responses saying at how I'm romantically ignorant to films like Safe Haven because I've never experienced a true romance myself.

Let me tell you, if real-life romances are anything like the schmaltzy, picturesque, contrived trite presented with us in the latest Nicholas Sparks film adaptation, I'd rather be eternally bound to my pet cat. Marking the eight Sparks film adaptation, Safe Haven isn't impossibly unromantic like The Vow (not a Sparks-coined film, but last year's Valentine's Day cash-grab), yet it stems from the same touchy, over-sentimentalized roots many of these pictures do, offering nothing more than a cheap escapist fantasy.

The backdrop for this story is Southport, North Carolina, a coastal area which is populated with happy, good-looking, witty white people that look like they were cut out of GQ/Maxim magazine covers. Southport is the place where our protagonist Katie Feldman (Julianne Hough) believes she can find solace in, after catching a bus and a plane, running away from an unknown problem in the beginning of the film.

Upon touching down, she tries out the area a bit before buying a rundown shack in the middle of absolute nowhere, and when she goes to buy paint for her floors, she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel) and his two sweetheart children, Josh and Lexi. Alex is instantly attracted to Katie and it's not hard to find out why. She's petite, built nicely, her blonde hair flows so majestically when the coast winds pick up that she is the dreamgirl of almost anyone. But Katie isn't totally ready for a relationship, as she is trying to forget her past of course. She drums up a relationship with Jo (Cobie Smulders), a local southerner who attempts to teach her the noble ways of the land she has just set foot on.

As anyone can tell, Alex and Katie begin hanging out more, inevitably become more attracted to one another, and all in good time for that pesky problem burdening Katie's past to come back and bite her.

There's an irritating emptiness to Safe Haven, which is beginning to drive me nuts in new romantic films (romantic comedies are a somewhat different story). Many modern films of the genre feature the same little details; a very attractive couple, incredulous situations, postcard worthy landscapes, little development between characters, uninteresting side-characters, and irrelevant small-talk between characters that are enough to drive those still living in reality up the wall. The Nicholas Sparks film exist in an augmented reality, where coincidences are more than prevalent to several situations and there is a romance that is seemingly eternal. I do not discourage Sparks films, but I believe that they rely too much on fantasy and not enough on reality. A little fantasy is fine, but when they're consistently plagued by incredulity and far-fetched setups, they become redundant, and worse, the films become interchangeable (before you disagree, look up the posters for The Last Song, The Lucky One, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Safe Haven, and A Walk to Remember and then tell me the small little notable differences that differentiate those films apart). Sparks has successfully found out how to profit greatly from the romantic genre, and his name has become etched into the minds of young girls and older ones, who will pay for anything he makes and remark on how beautiful and incredible it all was.

Take The Notebook for example. Cute story, decent characters, some great acting by Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, but nothing more than, again, an escapist fantasy. The alleged twist ending and emotional finale was something I discovered long before the film was over and that sort of soiled the experience that I was expecting to have a very strong, poignant resonance with. If that's the best story Sparks ever told, than I'm less optimistic about what future Valentine's Day weekends will bring to me.

Safe Haven features decent performances from its lead actors, but this is a soap-opera at best. It adheres to formula and predictability more-so than characters and plot progression, and the twist ending it tacks on at the end is laughably unbelievable in multiple regards. I return full circle to inform my readers that I am not lonely, depressed, socially-troubled, or took any personal feelings about being single to this film. I'm just sick of by-the-numbers romances.

Starring: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, Cobie Smulders, and David Lyons. Directed by: Lasse Hallström.

Not exactly like the book adaption,but decent still. The actors chosen,cinematography & music was nicely done. Does it have clichés? Of course! Many feel the twist ruined it,however don't feel it did. It's a movie that both,men & women can enjoy. A must add if you're looking,for something to watch.