10 Lame Movie Twists That Ruined Great Endings
4. She Was A Ghost - Safe Haven
While most motion pictures based on Nicholas Sparks novels rarely rise to above B-movie levels of quality, they can still be fun, campy romance films with genuine insight into relationship development and nuance. They can also be convoluted messes that over romanticize to the point of fantasy. And sometimes, they can be both and not even know it.
Take, for example, the case of Safe Haven. The movie follows Erin, who believes she has accidentally murdered her abusive ex-husband and is on the run from her past, as she moves to a new town and starts to strike up a relationship with a hunky single dad. She is aided in almost all her endeavors by her kindhearted neighbor Jo, who helps set her up with Alex, navigate the ups and downs of being a step mother, and even warns Erin when her ex-husband is hunting her down.
In the end, everything is resolved in a satisfying manner with romance winning out, as it always does in Nicholas Sparks movies. However, this is so sickeningly saccharine that of course, it must be supernatural. Indeed, it is revealed in a letter from the hunky dad's deceased first wife that Jo was actually the ghost of the first wife, haunting the town to make sure that her husband wound up with a good replacement. All that sweet romance the end was celebrating? That was only possible because of interference from beyond the grave.