Safe Haven 2013

Safe Haven

Critics Consensus

Schmaltzy, predictable, and melodramatic, Safe Haven also suffers from a ludicrous plot twist, making for a particularly ignominious Nicholas Sparks adaptation.

13%

TOMATOMETER

Total Count: 146

67%

Audience Score

User Ratings: 76,043

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Movie Info

Katie Feldman (Julianne Hough) moves to a small town on the North Carolina coast, determined to make a new life for herself. She takes a job as a waitress and keeps a low profile, but she is soon won over by the warmth and caring of the close-knit community, especially that of widower Alex (Josh Duhamel). With the help of Alex and his children, Katie learns to love and trust again -- but when a mysterious stranger arrives and starts asking questions, Katie's dark past threatens to reclaim her.
  • Rating:
    PG-13 (Thematic Material|Sexuality|Threatening Behavior|Violence)
  • Genre:
    drama, romance
  • Original Language:
    English
  • Director:
    Lasse Hallström
  • Producer:
    Ryan Kavanaugh, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Nicholas Sparks
  • Writer:
    Dana Stevens, Gage Lansky
  • Release Date (Theaters):
     wide
  • Release Date (Streaming):
  • Box Office (Gross USA):
    $$71,346,930
  • Runtime:
  • Production Co:
    Nicholas Sparks Productions, Temple Hill
  • Sound Mix:
    Datasat, Dolby Digital

Cast & Crew

Josh Duhamel
Alex Wheatley
Julianne Hough
Katie Feldman
Cobie Smulders
Jo
David Lyons
Kevin Tierney
Noah Lomax
Josh
Mimi Kirkland
Lexi
Lasse Hallström
Director
Dana Stevens
Screenwriter
Gage Lansky
Screenwriter
Ryan Kavanaugh
Producer
Wyck Godfrey
Producer
Marty Bowen
Producer
Nicholas Sparks
Producer
Tucker Tooley
Executive Producer
Ron Burkle
Executive Producer
Jason Colbeck
Executive Producer
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News & Interviews for Safe Haven

Critics Consensus: A Bad Day for A Good Day to Die Hard
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Critic Reviews for Safe Haven

All Critics (146) | Top Critics (42) | Fresh (19) | Rotten (127)

  • A movie whose punch line is so delightfully absurd that even after you pretty much know what's coming you spit out your Pepsi anyway.

    January 3, 2014 | Full Review…

    Wesley Morris

    Grantland
    Top Critic

  • 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.

    March 7, 2013 | Full Review…

    Drew Hunt

    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic

  • Unfortunately Hough is not really up to the part and Duhamel isn't much better than a nice-looking block of wood.

    March 1, 2013 | Rating: 2/5 | Full Review…

    Derek Malcolm

    London Evening Standard
    Top Critic

  • As ever with a Sparks story, the action takes place in a sugary vision of small-town America that does not correspond with the real world at any point.

    February 28, 2013 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

    Peter Bradshaw

    Guardian
    Top Critic

  • Almost nothing happens for long stretches before a plot "twist" so obvious that only the dull-witted could fail to see it coming.

    February 28, 2013 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

    David Gritten

    Daily Telegraph (UK)
    Top Critic

  • The very definition of a stinker.

    February 28, 2013 | Rating: 1/5 | Full Review…

    Martyn Conterio

    Little White Lies
    Top Critic
View All Critic Reviews (146)

Audience Reviews for Safe Haven

  • Oct 05, 2016
    Save Haven is a normal Nicholas Sparks movie - damaged girl finding love with a good looking widower - even in the face of the corrupt cop ex-husband hunting her. I didn't like the last five minutes of the movie - too much Stephen-King-like.
    Red L Super Reviewer
  • Jun 08, 2016
    An abused wife flees her sadistic cop-husband and learns to love again with a widower and his kids in what could be a Lifetime movie - complete with big twist ending! - save for the big name actors and director. Julianne Hough shows incredible vibrancy and emotional range out on the dance floor, but in summoning bodily restraint for a film role, she becomes a personality vacuum. Josh Duhamel seems at home enough as the hunky and jovial single dad, and David Lyons really creeps it up as the corrupt and deranged abuser, hot on his wife's trail. The movie is heavy on the folksy charm of a seaside tourist town and only skin-deep with the abuse recovery, but it's still guiltily watchable.
    Alice S Super Reviewer
  • Sep 22, 2014
    Was enjoying it and then a stupid cheesy ending made me laugh and ruined the experience. The leads are appealing enough and it did get suspenseful but then it got too cute for its own good. Date Movie night became a bust and my wife felt the same way. 09-21-2014
    Christopher O Super Reviewer
  • Jul 26, 2014
    I had a mixed to negative reaction to the film. It felt like I was watching 2 movies that didn't connect well (the romance and the husband stalking wife). The film needed a major rewrite. The tone was also off. The film reminded me of movies like Sleeping With the Enemy, Enough, An Unfinished Life, and Message in a Bottle. The big confrontation at the end seemed very predictable and not surprising. I thought Julianne Hough was miscast here. In my opinion, she didn't have a good on screen chemistry with Duhamel. Another actress in that role, would have probably done a better job. However, Duhamel, Cobie Smulders, and David Lyons are great in their roles.
    Sol C Super Reviewer
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