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SAFE HAVEN (2013)Movie Reviews
Romance drama about a young woman whose past secrets threaten her relationship with a widowed father in a small North Carolina town. Cast:Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel, Cobie Smulders, David Lyons, Noah Lomax, Mimi Kirkland, Mike Pniewski, Lauren York, Cullen Moss, Ric Reitz, Jasper Grey, Laura Avnaim, Robin Mullins, Christopher Cozort, T. Alloy LangenfeldDirector:Lasse HallströmRelease Date:February 14, 2013DVD Release:February 5, 2013From:Relativity MediaRating:PG-13Length:1 hr 0 min
Safe Haven (2013) opened to weak reviews. • Ann Hornaday wrote in the Washington Post, "...one of those Valentine's Day confections that satisfy your sweet tooth until you get to their weird, off-putting center." More Reviews Below...
Mary Pols, Time: MODERATE "Nicholas Sparks will never get an award for originality, but when it comes to rehashing formula and pleasing his audience, the man is a master."(See all of Mary Pols's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 859 words, 02/14/13
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: POOR(cg) "I hate the blandness of Julianne Hough and Josh Duhamel as actors. No human emotion seems to register on their perfect faces for more than a second at a time."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 354 words, 02/15/13
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "The love scenes are gauzily romantic and staunchly PG. Dialogue is heavy on sentimentality. The story hits many familiar notes..."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 559 words, 02/14/13
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: MODERATE(cg) "Hallström is good at putting sentiment on-screen but there's a fine line between something that touches the heart and something that triggers the gag reflex."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 691 words, 02/13/13
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
Stephen Holden, New York Times: WEAK "Who are these people?... With no mention of politics, religion, money or cultural tastes, the characters are attractive blanks who invite you fill in the emptiness..."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 583 words, 02/14/13
Miriam Bale, New York Daily News: WEAK(cg) "The problem is that most of the pieces to the shoddy puzzle ultimately don't fit, making things less believable.... There's too much of a detour from the romance..."(See all of Miriam Bale's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 268 words, 02/14/13
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "...sloppy, sentimental... long on beauty shots, short on depth and seriously intent on tugging your heartstrings. Indeed, it demands you reach for those tissues. Sob."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 696 words, 02/14/13
Sara Stewart, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "In Sparks country, every day is Valentine's Day, and every emotion can be summed up with one of those chalky candy hearts.... 'COME ON.' "(See all of Sara Stewart's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 661 words, 02/14/13
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "Hallström has some sunsets and canoeing montages to shoot in order to pass the time before things grow violent and threatening and then go calm and upbeat again..."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 391 words, 02/14/13
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: MODERATE(cg) "Nicholas Sparks, the best-selling novelist now on his eighth film adaptation, knows what works and he's sticking with it.... pleasant enough..."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 309 words, 02/14/13
Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine: FAIR "...not all bad.... at least until the movie begins to drown in the telenovela-level crud that it's been building up to.... We genuinely like watching Duhamel and Hough..."(See all of Bilge Ebiri's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 646 words, 02/15/13
Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times: WEAK(cg) "...either the filmmakers were out of their minds, or they must think we're out of our minds to buy into this schmaltz.... Bat. Bleep. Crazy."(See all of Richard Roeper's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 773 words, 02/14/13
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: MODERATE(cg) "Time for another Nicholas Sparks-penned romantic potboiler about commitment-shy, G-rated lovers who find romance, overcoming dark secrets and unhappy pasts."(See all of Linda Barnard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 662 words, 02/14/13
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: WEAK(cg) "There's also a letter. There's always a letter stuffed into these Hallmark cards. This one comes at the end, along with a complementary hankie and a red candy heart."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 596 words, 02/14/13
Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "...marred by cliches. It has an alarming number of throwaway montage sequences.... And it ends, regrettably, with two plot twists you can see coming a mile away."(See all of Tirdad Derakhshani's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 399 words, 02/15/13
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: WEAK(cg) "...erratic... figurative and literal overkill. By piling complications atop surprise revelations, this scatterbrained film gets in its own way."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 394 words, 02/14/13
Barbara VanDenburgh, Arizona Republic: WEAK(cg) "Nobody expects it to soar to great heights, but with Julianne Hough as the albatross around its pretty little neck, it never even gets off the ground."(See all of Barbara VanDenburgh's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 441 words, 02/14/13
Tom Russo, Boston Globe: WEAK(cg) "...passably ambles along in generic-melodrama mode before finally insulting audience intelligence one time too many.... saccharine hooey..."(See all of Tom Russo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 435 words, 02/14/13
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the problem isn't that it plays it safe, but that it plays it cheap. It's also about 10 minutes too long.... Still, it works well enough -- harmlessly enough..."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 478 words, 02/14/13
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "...syrup-laden.... When the plot isn't being mechanically pushed forward with another crime subplot development, there are nice little human moments."(See all of Peter Hartlaub's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 47 words, 02/14/13
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: WEAK(cg) "...odd... a primer on what I'll call Movie Behavior -- things people do in the movies that you can't ever imagine in real life.... pretty as a picture, easily forgotten."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 389 words, 02/14/13
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: MODERATE(cg) "...a departure from the Sparks itinerary, with violence nipping at the heels of the beautiful newcomer and a supernatural plot twist in the last act... leaky..."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 318 words, 02/14/13
Adam Graham, Detroit News: FAIR(cg) "...soft and inoffensive as its leads.... never dives much deeper than a puddle, its tourist brochure scenery taking precedence over human emotions."(See all of Adam Graham's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 315 words, 02/14/13
Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: WEAK(cg) "...doesn't have a whole lot to offer, with a plot so familiar and stars so uninterested in each other... a cheap North Carolina vacation."(See all of Katey Rich's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 595 words, 02/14/13
Scott Tobias, AV Club: WEAK(cg) "...the cutaways to the cop-on-the-edge plot are jarring and lacking in conviction... the whole tortured mess comes together in a twist-filled third act... a full-blown calamity."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 410 words, 02/14/13
Chris Cabin, Slant: POOR(cg) "...goes to considerable lengths to eliminate every scrap of evidence to suggest that the film was made by an individual with personal emotions, memories, and opinions."(See all of Chris Cabin's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 632 words, 02/13/13
Stephen Holden, New York Times: WEAK "Who are these people?... With no mention of politics, religion, money or cultural tastes, the characters are attractive blanks who invite you fill in the emptiness..."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 583 words, 02/14/13
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "...sloppy, sentimental... long on beauty shots, short on depth and seriously intent on tugging your heartstrings. Indeed, it demands you reach for those tissues. Sob."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 696 words, 02/14/13
MOVIE INDUSTRY (4 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Variety: MODERATE "The effect of watching is not unlike snuggling up with a warm blanket that keeps getting ripped away just before tiredness sets in.... unsurprising but not unsatisfying..."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 578 words, 02/13/13
Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: WEAK "...the burgeoning romance is too flat to generate intense audience empathy.... the gauzy romantic interludes prove to be something of a yawn."(See all of Stephen Farber's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 635 words, 02/13/13
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: WEAK "...sloppy, sentimental... long on beauty shots, short on depth and seriously intent on tugging your heartstrings. Indeed, it demands you reach for those tissues. Sob."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 696 words, 02/14/13
Stephen Holden, New York Times: WEAK "Who are these people?... With no mention of politics, religion, money or cultural tastes, the characters are attractive blanks who invite you fill in the emptiness..."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 583 words, 02/14/13
13.9 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Safe Haven (2013)'s reviews are separated by an average 13.9 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Safe Haven (2013) (38 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Safe Haven (2013)'s reviews cover 56.9% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 17,160 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 452 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 4 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Safe Haven (2013)'s reviews on average broke 4 days after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Safe Haven (2013)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Safe Haven (2013) (38 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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