SAFE HAVEN

Cole's Rating: ★★

Year: 2013

Cast: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Romance

MPAA Rating: PG-13

        "Chick flicks" can be good; they just have to be done well. What aggravates me as a critic is when poorly done chick flicks win the audience's approval because of sappy, happy endings. Safe Haven is a mixed bag. Katie (Julianne Hough) flees to North Carolina escaping from her dark past, and she meets Alex (Josh Duhamel) and falls madly in love.

       I admire Josh Duhamel as an actor because I see him as a real life person. His acting is very honest and believable. In my opinion, that is most present in Life As We Know It. To me, he did seem too young for his character, as he was playing a widow with two children, both of ages 7-10. Matt Damon played a similar role in We Bought A Zoo, however I thought that his age was perfect for the role. I still enjoyed his screen presence, because it is easily enjoyable. In the remake of Footloose, and this, Julianne Hough eerily resembles a younger Jennifer Aniston. She looks exactly like her; I wonder if somewhere down the line they are related... Anyways, her acting was believable. she played a disturbed young girl better than most actresses could. She also has a great future as an actress ahead of her. Seeing as she contributed largely to the outcome of the film, I thought that Colbie Smulders’s acting was laughable. “He’s coming,” “Who?” “You-Know-Who”. When did this film turn into Harry Potter?

       Something that irritates me when I’m watching a movie is when I notice errors. Within the same beach scene, Julianne Hough had changed outfits at least three times, where we saw her get in the car with only the clothes on her back, and a bikini. This was the case with a few more scenes also. Also there was a big error on the knowledge of Colbie Smulders’s character, knowing about Katie’s past. These errors can mean one of two things, or maybe both. One, the movie was hastily filmed, with some type of time crunch. Or two, the producers were not smart enough to notice it. But I’m opting for the former reason.

        With all that time spent on Hough's character, the ending was the movie's low point because it tried to make us care about a character that the movie spent little time developing. Had they recast, and added some extra scenes into that character, then maybe it would have worked. But to be honest, I didn't like it one bit. It had a good, original backstory, and likable characters, so let's leave it at that. It shouldn't have gone for the home-run.

-Written by Cole Pollyea