Review of Safe Haven (2013) by Josh E — 24 Jul 2013

Sleeping with the Enemy meets P.S. I love you.

By far not an Oscar worthy masterpiece and it may signal the usual cliché chick flick allover, but it's actually an enjoyable movie, although simple, formulaic and predictable. But it's still firmly on the side of sentiment and implausible plot developments.

Julianne Hough warmly anchors this and is a talented actress. Josh Duhamel finally gets a role to shine and is the real reason to see this movie; he's also a talented actor. Overall the performances are filled with real emotion, real pain, and real joy. Thanks to their spirited performances, this is superior to other recent Nicholas Sparks adaptations.

This is directed by Lasse Hallström, who's an old pro at navigating this kind of undemandingly dramatic yarn and does a pretty fine job with Sparks' story. It's certainly worth watching.