I had already read a (rather disparaging) review prior to seeing this film, however my housemates wanted to go- it was going to be a nice group outing, you know how it is, so I thought I would give it a chance. After all, it's a film of a Nicholas Sparks book (weirdly one of the few exceptions to the rule in film where the director is well known and the writer unknown) and I liked 'The Notebook' and that's well known for being a sentimental weep-fest. However, I now have a new theory when it comes to Nicholas Sparks films; the story runs to a formula- person A meets and falls in love with Person B- usually with some kind of complication; different socio-economic class, running away from a violent past, one of them is about to go to war, as a result of which they break up, only to get back together. This is fine; many Hollywood films are formulaic, and I have always been a believer in clichés being clichés for a reason. The problem with Nicholas Sparks films is that they repeat the formula but using less talented actors each time. One reason that 'The Notebook' is so successful is that it has such a standout cast; including Ryan Gosling in his breakout role, Rachel MacAdams (whose chemistry with Gosling was brilliant), the amazing James Garner and Gena Rowlands as the older Allie and Noah, and James Marsden as Allie's other suitor Lon. The cast is the reason that 'The Notebook' doesn't drown in sentimentality. 'Dear John' casts Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried as the star-crossed lovers, who are (although still good) not as feted as Gosling et al. I didn't connect with the cast of 'Safe Haven'; I felt like they were going through the motions which made the film feel clunky and awkward and made the adherence to a formula painfully obvious.
The main problem for me was that I didn't connect at all with Julianne Hough in the lead role- I felt she was unsympathetic and unconvincing. There didn't seem to be any attempt at hiding the formula or indeed showing any progression in relationship- for example Josh (Hough's character Katie's prospective stepson) is opposed to the union all the way through then suddenly changes his mind- it feels like a whole section of his story has been cut out to save time. I feel like Cobie Smulders was underused (even though her role was somewhat ridiculous even for a sentimental film like this one). Josh Duhamel as Alex is charismatic but seems to be struggling against the tide of mediocrity of the rest of the film. I think I would have preferred it if 'Safe Haven' had been really terrible, but it doesn't even achieve that- it's OK, and that's all.
The main problem for me was that I didn't connect at all with Julianne Hough in the lead role- I felt she was unsympathetic and unconvincing. There didn't seem to be any attempt at hiding the formula or indeed showing any progression in relationship- for example Josh (Hough's character Katie's prospective stepson) is opposed to the union all the way through then suddenly changes his mind- it feels like a whole section of his story has been cut out to save time. I feel like Cobie Smulders was underused (even though her role was somewhat ridiculous even for a sentimental film like this one). Josh Duhamel as Alex is charismatic but seems to be struggling against the tide of mediocrity of the rest of the film. I think I would have preferred it if 'Safe Haven' had been really terrible, but it doesn't even achieve that- it's OK, and that's all.
