Safe Haven (film)

Safe Haven is a 2013 American romance film starring Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders. It was released theatrically in North America on February 14, 2013. The film was directed by Lasse Hallström, and is an adaptation of Nicholas Sparks' 2010 novel of the same name. The film was originally set for a February 8 release, but was moved to February 14, 2013. The film was widely panned by critics, but was nonetheless financially successful with a worldwide gross of $97.6 million against its $28 million budget.

Plot
A woman leaves her house in Boston holding a bloody knife. She is shown moments later at the bus station trying to flee town. She buys a bus ticket with her hair now cropped and bleached and stops in the small town of Southport, North Carolina. At the general store, she introduces herself as Katie. After acquiring a job as a waitress and renting a small house on the edge of town, Katie Feldman befriends her neighbor, Jo and meets Alex Wheatley, a widowed father of two young children, Josh Wheatley and Lexie Wheatley.

Katie and Alex eventually start a relationship, and she becomes like a mother to Josh and Lexie. Meanwhile, Kevin Tierney (David Lyons), a Boston police detective, searches for his wife, Erin, and sends out false wanted posters saying that she is wanted for attempted murder.

Alex sees Erin's wanted poster in the police station and notices the picture bears a striking resemblance to Katie. He confronts Katie with the information, causing a huge fight. They break up, and Katie moves out of her house. As she is about to leave town, however, Alex intercepts her and says that he has fallen in love with her. Katie returns his love, and decides to stay in Southport. She tells Alex that she fled to Southport to escape her abusive and alcoholic husband, Kevin. They got in a fight, and she stabbed him in self-defense before she fled south.

Kevin is suspended for putting out the fake posters. Enraged, he breaks into Katie's former neighbor's home back in Boston and finds the phone number to the Southport restaurant where Katie works. Arriving just in time for the town's Fourth of July parade, a severely intoxicated Kevin sees Katie kissing Alex, which enrages him. Later, Katie has a dream that she is standing on the docks watching the fireworks when Jo comes up and tells Katie that "he" is here. Katie wakes up in the convenience store next to a fast asleep Lexie. Suddenly, Kevin appears and confronts her, demanding that she go back with him. She refuses and tells him to leave. Kevin pulls a gun and pours gasoline all over the store, with the intent to burn it down.

When he hesitates, Katie buys time by faking sympathy for him and agreeing to return home with him; when he lets his guard down, she pushes him into the water. However, a firework spark lands on the gasoline, igniting a fire that engulfs the store. Alex sees the burning store, quickly makes his way across the lake by boat, and saves Lexie. Meanwhile, Katie tries to fight off Kevin, who is attempting to shoot her. After a long struggle, she makes one last desperate grab at the gun and it goes off, killing Kevin.

Later on, Alex finds several letters written by his late wife, prepared ahead of time for memorable events such as Josh's eighteenth birthday and Lexie's wedding day. Alex gives Katie a letter with the words "To Her" on the envelope. The letter thanks the recipient for making Alex happy. The movie ends with the revelation that Jo, who had supposedly left town moments before, is actually the spirit of Alex's wife.

Cast

 * Julianne Hough as Katie Feldman/Erin Tierney
 * Josh Duhamel as Alex Wheatley
 * Cobie Smulders as Jo Wheatley/Carly
 * David Lyons as Kevin Tierney
 * Mimi Kirkland as Lexie Wheatley
 * Noah Lomax as Josh Wheatley
 * Irene Ziegler as Mrs. Feldman
 * Robin Mullins as Maddie
 * Red West as Roger
 * Juan Carlos Piedrahita as Detective Ramirez
 * Cullen Moss as Deputy Bass
 * Mike Pniewski as Lieutenant Robinson

Production
The film began principal photography on June 18, 2012 in Wilmington and Southport, North Carolina. Parts of it were filmed in Louisiana and the opening scene with Katie on the Coach America bus is on the Linn Cove Viaduct along the Blue Ridge Parkway near Grandfather Mountain in Linville, North Carolina.

Reception
Critical reaction for Safe Haven was largely negative. Peter Bradshaw, writing for The Guardian, called Safe Haven's setting "a sugary vision of small-town America that does not correspond with the real world at any point." Peter Travers summed up his Rolling Stone review with: "I hate Safe Haven. It's a terrible thing to do to your Valentine."

The film has a score of 34 on Metacritic, a "generally unfavorable" score, based on 33 reviews. It holds a 12% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 137 critic reviews.

Home media
Safe Haven was released on DVD and Blu-ray on May 7, 2013.