New in Theaters: "Safe Haven" - Starring Josh Duhamel and Julianne Hough

Safe Haven is the latest film to be adapted from a book by popular author Nicholas Sparks and, as you might expect, is set in coastal North Carolina and features attractive young actors in the lead roles. In this case, that honor goes to hotties Julianne Hough (Footloose) and Josh Duhamel (Transformers). Hough portrays Erin, a troubled young woman who left her life in the city after a seemingly tragic event and appears to be trying to eliminate any reminder of her past. Erin arrives in the small town of Southport, North Carolina, where she purchases a small, secluded house, begins a job as a waitress and changes her name to Katie. She soon meets Alex (Duhamel), the manager of a local convenience store and the widowed father of two young children. Alex clearly likes Katie, but she initially resists his charm. Over time, they become closer and she tries to bond with the children, Lexi and Josh, with mixed results. Despite the relative calm of her new life, Katie is troubled by bad dreams of her former life and is being pursued by a detective, Kevin Tierney (David Lyons), who is determined to track her down. Of course, the truth about her past life is eventually revealed, causing relationships issues with Alex and placing both them and the children in danger.

Safe Haven is deliberately paced and it takes quite a while for anything substantial to happen. In the meantime, viewers are treated to the beautiful cinematography of coastal North Carolina, as well as the lead characters in various states of undress. While that may be enough for some viewers, I was expecting more. Be careful what you wish for. When the events of Katie's past life begin to emerge, they set off a series of melodramatic and contrived situations that may leave viewers feeling cheated, or perhaps insulted. But the "best" is yet to come when the truth about another seemingly benign character, Jo (Cobie Smulders), will likely throw viewers who are not familiar with the source material through the proverbial loop. While Safe Haven looks terrific, courtesy of  director Lance Hallström and cinematographer Terry Stacey, and features decent performances from Hough and Duhamel, this is a case where style is trying to overcompensate for the lack of substance and fails.