Title: Love Hard
Actors: Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang, Darren Barnet
Director: Hernan Jimenez
Writers: Daniel MacKey, Rebecca Ewing
Genre: Romantic comedy, Christmas
My Rating: 8.5/10
Watch this movie now on Netflix
Love Hard
Natalie is still single but this is also the way how she earns her money. She writes columns about her terrible dating life and all of the dates she has been on. From a guy who looked completely different in real life to a guy who was actually married and had kids. She is actually done with living this way and really wants to succeed in her love life. One night she goes on the dating app and meets Josh. They talk a lot to each other and they really start to like each other too. Natalie decides to surprise Josh for Christmas. But when she arrives at his house, she realizes she has made a terrible mistake. Josh does not look like the Josh she has been talking to on the dating app. He actually catfished her. Josh promise to set her up with the guy from the pictures (Tag) if she agrees to pretend they are dating.
Review
Do you remember that Christmas movie on Netflix from last year called ‘Holidate?’ I remember that movie pretty well because I really liked it a lot. This new Christmas movie ‘Love Hard’ reminds me a little bit of that movie. It has the same vibe, even though the storylines are different. It is still two people pretending to be dating and falling in love with each other tough. But both movies made me excited for the holidays and it also gave me that warm feeling. Both were a little bit relatable. Holidate because everyone will ask you why you don’t have a boyfriend or girlfriend during the holidays. Love hard was relatable for me because of the whole tinder dating thing. Especially the part where you think this guy will look like his profile picture but eventually he does not.
I have to admit though while writing this review I thought the leading actress was Victoria Justice, the same actress from ‘Afterlife of the party’ but I was wrong! This is Nina Dobrev. Somehow it was hard for me to tell them apart. Not sure how I made this mistake because I wanted to write a whole paragraph about how much I like Victoria. Nina is also such a great actress. So I am sorry, Nina and Victoria if you read this. I am sorry I made this mistake but I can ensure you I wasn’t the only one who thought it was actually Victoria.
The movie was such a great movie. It was hilarious and romantic. Yes, these kinds of movies are pretty predictable but in the end, they still give you that warm feeling. Sometimes the romantic movies on Netflix are not always that great, sometimes even really bad. But during the holidays Netflix produces a lot of great romantic movies and they show that they can make great movies. And this is definitely one of those movies. I think this is going to be one of those movies I will watch again, just like Holidate. It has everything a romantic festive movie needs: a great story, great leading characters, a Christmas tree and Christmas songs. It has all of that. I find it very hard to find anything I didn’t like about this movie. Everyone’s acting was pretty solid.
No, this movie will never be as iconic as the popular Christmas movies we know like Home Alone. But if you want to watch something different this year, this might be a great movie to watch. This movie gave me those great Christmas vibes too. Oh, and one of my favourite scenes was where they (Natalie and Josh) make up new lyrics for ‘baby, it’s cold outside’ because Natalie thinks the old version is rapey, I really enjoyed that part and I think they should release that as a new Christmas song. I would definitely listen to it. During that scene, you could also see the sparks between the two. It was a lovely scene.
And maybe this movie also shows that we can be superficial because even though she has a great connection with Josh, Natalie still wants to chase the hot guy (Tag). Josh was constantly there for her and calmed her down when she was freaking out. But somehow Natalie couldn’t see that and be only focused on trying to be the perfect guy for Tag. While it was obvious that Josh was the perfect guy for her. I mean, she literally preferred dating a hot guy but not a match instead of dating someone who wasn’t her type immediately but was a match for her. We are so focused on how someone looks, but we never look at what’s on the inside. Someone can be very pretty but can be a terrible person at the same time.
I also like the title, because it is a reference to Natalie’s favourite Christmas movie Die Hard. All though there is a lot of discussion going on whether if it is really a Christmas movie or not. I can’t start a discussion about that because I don’t think I’ve ever seen Die hard. Maybe I should try it this holiday season and find out if I agree it is a Christmas movie.
But yes, I recommend watching this movie if you are into romantic movies, especially if you also loved ‘Holidate’ from last year. Because this is the kind of movie you want to watch every year around Christmas.
Note: There are many people talking about the fact they a glorifying the whole catfishing situation. I agree and disagree with that. Yes, catfishing is not okay and it will never be okay. But this is just a movie and this guy did it only because he was insecure. He had his own photo on the dating app before but changed it to someone else’s photo to do an experiment. So in this movie, it did not bother me at all.
Thank you for sharing. This sounds like an interesting film, and obviously not to be taken seriously.