The Lucky One

So, I have an ongoing battle with Netflix. Okay, realistically it may be my reluctancy to commitment. Allow me to explain, every time I get an actual DVD from Netflix I am fearful that I'm going to pick the wrong one. See, watching movies on instant doesn't have that, "Ugh, I can't believe I waited for this movie to come in the mail," attached to it.

All that to say, this movie was not one that I regretted waiting to get in the mail. I am very choosey and despite being told by someone - maybe my mom - that it wasn't a good movie I wanted to see it anyways. And I am not afraid to say, I liked it!

I'm fairly picky when it comes to romantic movies because so many cheesy ones exist. Not to say that this doesn't have its fair share of "cheese" and not that it is terribly believable, but it's sweet. I liked the story, I believe - even in this day and age - that the "right couples" are brought together by something bigger than us. This is that story.

It doesn't hurt that Efron is also very attractive and combine that with his extremely sweet and sensitive character who happens to do really well with Schilling's son in the movie and I'm a girly mess. Plus he is kind of a hero, so what girl can turn that down? Obviously not the main female character, based solely on the poster photo!

Anyways, it is not going to win any awards but if you are looking for a girly movie, this is a good one. So, my suggestion is rent it.

Celeste and Jesse Forever

I so desperately wanted this to be a good movie. I love Rashida Jones and I love Andy Samberg, so I figured what could be better? Well, this film is mediocre at best.

I thought oh best friends who love each other even through divorce, yes I read the description of the movie before I received it. However, to say they "struggle" is an understatement. It's back and forth with their relationship and at some point I feel like watchers will just become frustrated, as I did.

You want a happy ending and for things to turn out well for both of them, and I guess to some extent it is a "happy ending." But the happy ending just wasn't good enough for me, I felt like the movie was dragging and I hoped it would get to the end faster. Any time I feel that way I tend to tell others to just skip it.

There isn't a lot to say about this movie, overall I did not enjoy it. It did provide a few laughs and some emotion but I think if I knew before what I was getting myself into, I would have just skipped it.

Safe Haven

Before you begin reading I'm going to let you know that this review contains spoilers. Nicholas Sparks definitely has a talent for romantic tales. I appreciated the fact that this story has a dark side to it. Now, I know most of you, like me, know that Sparks includes some sort of darkness to all of his love stories, but I felt like this one was more real. Julianne Hough did a wonderful job throughout the movie as did Josh Duhamel. However, for me the star who stole the show was Mimi Kirkland, the adorable little girl. The love that builds between Hough and Duhamel is expected but Hough and Kirkland took their character expectations to a whole new level. I do not want to leave out the little boy who also did a good job, however I felt like his story was a little excluded. Now, that's the positives of the film.

For the negatives, let's start with the title. Haven literally translates to mean a place of safety. Break that down and the title is Safe Place of Safety. I'm not sure if Sparks anticipated that not many of his moviegoers were smart enough to put that together or if he just thought a one word title wasn't good enough, but none-the-less the title is not a fabulous one. Next, the story line is very cute, which was expected. However, it went a step too far leaving much of the audience asking what just happened, and not in a good way. Spoiler follows here: At the end of the film it is revealed that Jo the nice friend next door who seems to know everything without ever being told is fictional in the mind of Hough's character. In fact she is the ghost(?) of Duhamel's wife who has passed away. There is a beautiful situation throughout the movie having to do with letters that Jo had written while she was alive to her family members. However, it is within these letters that it is revealed who Jo was and I think in that reveal many people will no longer be on board with the film. This huge reveal of who the wife/mother was, was unnecessary and I would have enjoyed the film much more had that part been left out.

I do want to include that Tierney played by David Lyons did a wonderful job of being incredibly creepy which is what his role called for.