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52% Tomatometer 31 Reviews 90% Audience Score 2,500+ Ratings An LA girl, unlucky in love, falls for an East Coast guy on a dating app and decides to surprise him for the holidays, only to...
- (30)
- Nina Dobrev
- Hernán Jiménez
- Holiday, Romance, Comedy
Nov 5, 2021 · Love Hard. ‘Tis the season for sweaters, warm drinks, and oh yeah, holiday movies. Getting ahead of this year’s festivities, Hernán Jiménez ’s “Love Hard” tries its hardest to win over romantic comedy fans with a modern tale of a dating app match gone awry.
Nov 5, 2021 · Love Hard kicks off Netflix's holiday season. The Christmas romcom stars Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang and Darren Barnet as an extremely odd love triangle.
- 3 min
- Love isn’t hard to find in this new Christmas rom-com.
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- Verdict
By Laura Sirikul
Updated: Dec 16, 2021 9:45 pm
Posted: Nov 5, 2021 2:00 pm
Love Hard debuts on Netflix Nov. 5.
It’s that time of the year again! Time to get cheesy with romance.
The countdown to Christmas, filled with tropey storylines and predictable endings from Lifetime, Hallmark, and Netflix has arrived. With the success of films like A Christmas Prince and The Princess Switch, Netflix, which has become one of the biggest churners of the genre, has released the first of its many holiday movies slated for this season, Love Hard. And there’s a lot to love in this rom-com, which succeeds in embracing the genre in all its corny glory.
Directed by Hernán Jiménez and written by Danny Mackey and Rebecca Ewing, Love Hard follows disaster dating columnist Natalie (Nina Dobrev) as she believes she has finally found the man of her dreams through a dating app and decides to fly across the country to surprise him for Christmas. But when she arrives to meet “Josh” (Jimmy O. Yang), she finds out that she’s been catfished. The photo Josh used is actually of his completely unaware friend, Tag (Darren Barnet). Josh proposes a deal to Natalie: if she pretends to be his girlfriend in front of his family for the holidays, he will help her win Tag’s heart. Desperate for her “fairytale happy ending,” she agrees to the ruse. Of course, as Josh and Natalie play pretend boyfriend and girlfriend in front of his adoring parents and egotistical older brother, Owen (Harry Shum Jr.), they inevitably start falling for each other.
Following the predictable rom-com formula of “average joe and the hot girl” and the fake couple trope, Love Hard doesn’t offer much of anything new, but still finds a way to be charming. It’s also refreshing to see Yang, who is often cast as the funny side character, be the romantic lead. Unfortunately, Hollywood has frequently treated Asian men simply as foreigners or stereotypical nerds who never get the girl. Though it’s been nice to see gorgeous leading men like Henry Golding and Barnet himself get more time in the spotlight, it’s left little middle ground for the average Asian guy to find love on screen. That’s part of what makes Love Hard so interesting. Though Josh may not look like the standard love interest, the catfish reveal is not played up for laughs, which is such a relief. Instead, Josh is given some empathy and a chance to show Natalie that he’s still the guy she fell for through their many texts and phone conversations. Despite Josh’s lie, it’s hard not to root for him as Yang plays him with such humor and sincerity.
Alien Xmas
A Christmas Prince
The Princess Switch
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
The Christmas Chronicles
Other -- let us know in the comments.
Although Love Hard follows the typical formulaic plot and clichés, Nina Dobrev and Jimmy O. Yang are charming in their roles as two imperfect people trying to find love. The film checkmarks all the boxes for standard rom-coms. But, instead of trying to move away from it, Love Hard embraces the genre by adding cheesy tropes from other movies into it...
Nov 5, 2021 · In a world of fast-paced modern dating that appears to focus on polyamory relationships and narcissistic conquests, Love Hard reminds audiences that being authentic is way more powerful. This review of the Netflix film Love Hard does not contain spoilers.
Nov 5, 2021 · ‘Love Hard’ Review: Swipe Left on Netflix’s Digital-Age Dating Disaster. Two losers find love the hard way in this frustrating but occasionally adorable romantic comedy. By Courtney Howard....
Nov 5, 2021 · “Love Hard,” directed by Hernán Jiménez, centers on Natalie (Nina Dobrev), a Los Angeles journalist who chronicles her unlucky dating encounters for a digital publication.
