Romantic comedies, or rom-coms, have been following a very, very formulaic approach to plot nowadays: lonely people with unlucky dating lives meet the partners of their dreams, do quirky things together, and ultimately end up together while cheesy pop music plays in the background. Kiss, and roll credits. That’s it, right? I mean, following this approach is practically how any movie studio can succeed!
If you or a loved one have been bored, offended, or even fooled by this formula, look no further than Hernán Jiménez’s new film Love Hard, which has recently come to Netflix. It…somehow doesn’t do all of this.
The film follows Natalie (Nina Dobrev), an advice columnist who has made a career writing about her terrible love life for a BuzzFeed ripoff. After a string of particularly rough dating disappointments, her friend (Heather McMahan) widens her dating app’s search radius to include the whole country. Finally, she matches with a smiling face who’s exciting to talk to and charming: “Tag” (Darren Barnet). After a particularly long conversation which involves movie quotes and Shel Silverstein poems, the long-distance digital boyfriend whines that he wishes Natalie would be there with him Christmas.
At her boss’s (Matty Finochio) insistence, as there is a current lack of “good” content on their site, she travels across the country from LA to Lake Placid to meet the man of her dreams. But when she gets there, Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) doesn’t look like the pictures he sent her. He used the photos of his childhood best friend, Tag, to talk to women after being ignored on dating apps for so long. Outraged but now stuck in Lake Placid without her luggage, Natalie decides to stay and pass herself off as Josh’s girlfriend in order to impress his family. In turn, Josh promises to help her win over the man whose photos she originally fell for, even if it’s certainly as deceptive as what Josh did to her.
Although it thankfully doesn’t have enough Christmas joy to call itself a Netflix Christmas movie, Love Hard certainly has its endearing moments. Almost every scene with Natalie, Josh, and Josh’s family—Grandma (Takayo Fischer), his dad (James Saito), step-mom (Rebecca Staab) and competitive brother Owen (Harry Shum, Jr.)—is a winner, playing up the pressure on the fake couple to keep up the charade. However, the script sometimes goes overboard, slipping from endearing comedy to cheap cringe. This is perhaps the most egregious when Natalie takes shots at a bar to try and seduce Josh. Unfortunately, the shots have kiwi, which she’s deathly allergic to, and her face balloons from the reaction. It’s a mortifying scene, one that seems to be played for laughs, but it feels weirdly mean for an otherwise mostly pleasant comedy.
Another odd feature is that it seems to have taken hints from trending topics to find some of its plot points – online dating is ubiquitous, and catfishing is popular enough that MTV had an entire series exploring the trend. The reason Josh gives Natalie for why he catfished her is because Asian men may find themselves discriminated against on dating apps. The only truly realistic aspect of this entire film is Natalie’s workplace being hungry for content, in a hilariously glamorized portrayal of modern journalism that makes Sex & the City (I assume, as I’ve never watched it) look like Spotlight. These details, while timely, don’t seem to fit in with the story as well as some of the other aspects, despite their overall positive contribution to the plot.
But these awkward moments don’t really hurt the film, as the cast is solid enough together to keep both the fun and the dramatic tension going. It also asks some pivotal questions for young, single people: is physical attraction more important than personal connection? This is something that is almost never brought up in rom-coms, even in solid ones like Bridget Jones’ Diary, and Love Hard answers it by subverting a lot of the “will they/won’t they” dynamic between Josh and Natalie. The film feels free of clichés, and the fairly original story is supported by the likable, charismatic nature of its cast. Dobrev and Yang make the most of their parts, and give their characters an emotional edge, and the smaller parts—especially McMahan, who steals every scene she’s in—feel like natural inclusions.
Love Hard may be more of an explicit “Christmas” movie than Die Hard (this is a joke they make in this film…), but it might not warrant as many repeated viewings. The movie’s internal logic doesn’t quite come together, like how Natalie strongly objects to even hearing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” on the radio but sticks around to help the guy who lied to her. You have to buy the whole sleigh ride, however bumpy things get, to feel the joy Love Hard wants to deliver. The rom-com has become a zombie genre, so played out and “dead,” plagued by brainless streaming content on Hallmark (and, okay, even Netflix). But Love Hard, with its new approach to the genre and focus on friendship and genuine connection, may lead to their rebirth.
3/5 STARS