Safe Haven (2013)

To escape her problems and a pursuing police officer, Katie (Hough) finds the quiet town of Southport, North Carolina.  She decides to stay, and buys a house in the middle of nowhere.  She plans to stay away from people, but reluctantly forms friendships with two locals: her neighbor Jo (Smulders) and the owner of the local convenience store Alex (Duhamel).  Alex is a widower with two young children, Josh (Lomax) and Lexie (Kirkland).

As Katie grows closer to the Wheatley family, back in Boston, police detective Kevin Tierney (Lyons) is dedicated to finding Katie.  After months of searching, he submits a wanted poster for her, which ends up in Southport.


I agreed to see this film with a group of girlfriends, but was not overly excited.  Yes, the trailers showed Josh Duhamel shirtless, which is always nice to see... but it's based on a Nicholas Sparks book.  I have nothing against Sparks, but you know what you're getting with his work: two people meet, fall in love, one gets sick and dies...  Having said that, I do own 4 of his movies (in my defense, they were a gift and not something I purchased / requested).

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised by the film.  We missed the first few minutes (ok, fine, we were 10 minutes late), but it was easy enough to catch up.  The story is not what I was expected... yes, there were parts that were predictable, but they throw in a few twists that keep you from getting bored.  The cast is good and the kids are cute.  Yes, it is a chick-flick, but don't let that stop you from checking it out.

Safe Haven (2013) 115 minutes
Rated: PG-13 for thematic material involving threatening behavior, and for violence and sexuality
Director: Lasse Hallstrom
Starring: Julianne Hough as Katie
Josh Duhamel as Alex Wheatley
Cobie Smulders as Jo
David Lyons as Kevin Tierney
Noah Lomax as Josh Wheatley
Mimi Kirkland as Lexie Wheatley