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Title: Safe Haven (2013)
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Julianne Hough | ... | Katie | |
| Irene Ziegler | ... | Mrs. Feldman | |
| Jon Kohler | ... | Bus Station Clerk | |
| Tim Parati | ... | Bus Station Worker | |
| David Lyons | ... | Tierney | |
| Josh Duhamel | ... | Alex | |
 |
Giulia Pagano | ... | Pushy Bus Woman |
| Juan Piedrahita | ... | Jr. Detective Ramirez (as Juan Carlos Piedrahita) | |
| Red West | ... | Roger | |
| Noah Lomax | ... | Josh | |
| Mimi Kirkland | ... | Lexie | |
|
|
Robin Mullins | ... | Maddie |
| Jasper Grey | ... | Bus Boy | |
|
|
Tora Hallström | ... | Ivan's Waitress |
|
|
Wendy Wilmot | ... | Realtor |
When a mysterious young woman named Katie appears in the small North Carolina town of Southport, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two young children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly attached to Alex and his family. But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her . . . a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of Southport. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes that she must choose between a life of transient safety and one of riskier rewards . . . and ... Written by Nicholas Sparks
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'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.