Safe Haven
Metascore
34 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 33 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 33
  3. Negative: 13 out of 33
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  1. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    Feb 13, 2013
    38
    It’s hard to argue with the title here – Safe Haven, indeed. This is all about safety in the Hollywood workplace. Why make a movie when making a Hallmark-card-with-dialogue is so much less risky?
  2. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Tom Russo
    Feb 13, 2013
    38
    A movie that passably ambles along in generic-melodrama mode before finally insulting audience intelligence one time too many.
  3. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Richard Roeper
    Feb 13, 2013
    38
    If it can be said movies have personalities, I give you three words to sum up the basic core identity of Safe Haven: Bat. Bleep. Crazy.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Ann Hornaday
    Feb 14, 2013
    37
    Safe Haven is one of those Valentine’s Day confections that satisfy your sweet tooth until you get to their weird, off-putting center. The problem with movies is that you can’t put them back in the box.
  5. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    Feb 13, 2013
    33
    The cutaways to this cop-on-the-edge plot are jarring and lacking in conviction, and when the whole tortured mess comes together in a twist-filled third act, Safe Haven becomes a full-blown calamity.
  6. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Melissa Anderson
    Feb 14, 2013
    30
    Hough emits all the charisma of a personal assistant.
  7. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Kimberley Jones
    Feb 13, 2013
    30
    The leads project a sunny patina of wholesomeness and share marvelous tans, but beyond that, it’s a shrugging love match.
  8. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    Feb 13, 2013
    30
    The weakest parts of Safe Haven are its action sequences, in which the illusion of reality is shattered by ham-handed editing, garish special effects and comic-book dialogue.
  9. Film.com
    Reviewed by: Laremy Legel
    Feb 26, 2013
    25
    Even when compared against other films that have been adapted from Nicholas Sparks novels, Safe Haven is terrible.
  10. The Guardian
    Reviewed by: Peter Bradshaw
    Mar 2, 2013
    20
    As ever with a Sparks story, the action takes place in a sugary vision of small-town America that does not correspond with the real world at any point.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Betsy Sharkey
    Feb 13, 2013
    20
    This sloppy sentimental journey is long on beauty shots, short on depth and seriously intent on tugging your heartstrings. Indeed, it demands you reach for those tissues. Sob.
  12. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Chris Cabin
    Feb 13, 2013
    12
    It goes without saying that Safe Haven is the whitest thing offered up for public consumption in the three days since Mumford & Sons won the Grammy for Album of the Year.
  13. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    Feb 14, 2013
    0
    I hate Safe Haven. It's a terrible thing to do to your Valentine.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
4.7 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 38 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 6 out of 16
  1. MDeffense
    10
    I am amazed how wrong most critics are at rating movies these days. Have they become so shallow and devoid of common sense? If you are a movie buff that likes a great family movie,great story, unusual setting, romance, drama, thriller with a surprise ending go see it, you will not regret it.… Full Review »
  2. GreatMartin
    3
    It being Valentine’s Day weekend Hollywood, naturally, offers a romantic Nicholas Sparks film “Safe Haven” based on one of his many books.. Ins.. In most films logic has to be left at the door but with this one also leave your brains there.

    The opening scene shows Katie (Julianne Hough) running from what could be a murder scene. In the fastest time ever in a film she cuts and dyes her hair, gets on a bus going to Atlanta, even though the police are looking for her, gets off in a small town and within minutes gets a job, rents a cabin, meets a guy Alex (Josh Duhamel) who lost his wife 2 years previously to cancer and is bringing up their two kids Lexi (Mimi Kirkland) who was too young to really remember her and Josh (Noah Lomax) who misses her and, by the way, Alex gives Katie a bike in the middle of the night since she doesn’t have any transportation, though she really doesn’t need it--remember this is a small town--and meets Jo, her neighbor who lives down the way. Whew! We haven’t even gotten into the main thrust of the story.

    There isn’t a cliche that the director, Lasse Hallstrom, or the screenwriters, Dana Stevens and Gage Lansky, don’t love and feel they have to put up on the screen. We haven’t even mentioned fireworks filling the sky, children in jeopardy, homes on fire, a policeman who misuses his power, canoe rides, lovers getting caught in the rain not to forget the very unbelievable ending though the lovers and kids will live happily ever after as this is a Hollywood/ Nicholas Sparks movie. There is a thriller aspect added to the love story but adds nothing to the film.

    Josh Duhamel goes through the 5 o’clock shadow stage here and there while Julianne Hough looks better as a blonde than a brunette but with either color there is very little chemistry between the leads. Mimi Kirkland and Noah Lomax do a good job while most of the supporting cast blend into the wood.

    While you can’t say Hallstrom does a bad job there are one too many poorly edited scenes and as a director he really doesn’t bring anything special to the film.

    The star of the movie is really the small town of Southport, North Carolina, which is movie perfect.

    Though “Safe Haven” is being touted as a romantic film the best romantic film available on the big screen today is “Amour” that shows what love really is all about.    … Full Review »
  3. Copernicus
    9
    I almost missed a lovely movie because of the pitiful reviews. The theatre audience even clapped at the end. How many times do you witness that? I go to the movies all the time and rarely see that. The characters are basically nice people you will like with one exception. That's a relief in comparison to so many movies out there now.… Full Review »
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