You know that MTV show Catfish, hosted by Nev Schulman? Well, Love Hard is like that show, except the victim and the perpetrator find love with each other. Catfishing is deceptive and uncomfortable, so Netflix decided it would be the perfect premise for a holiday rom-com. I understand what they were trying to go for, but just like Sierra Burgess Is a Loser, whatever love that blossoms just doesn’t feel right.
Nina Dobrev’s Natalie Bauer has been unlucky in love. She’s been on the hunt for the man of her dreams for a while now, but can’t seem to escape the disaster date arena. So her quirky best friend (there’s always one in rom-coms) suggests she expand her search pool. This is how she meets Josh Lin (Jimmy O. Yang) – he’s handsome, rugged, not to mention they hit it off like a house on fire. The problem? He’s all the way in Lake Placid, while she’s in LA. But she’s in love, and with the encouragement of aforementioned quirky best friend, she decides to take a leap of faith and flies all the way to the East Coast to be with him for the holidays.
To her utter shock, Josh looks nothing like the pictures he posted of himself on the app. Red with anger, Natalie is about to take off until Josh promises to help hook her up with Tag (Darren Barnet), the man whose likeness he used – she just needs to continue to pretend to be his girlfriend in front of his family. Natalie hesitates, but after pondering the wreck that is her love life, she decides to take him up on his offer.
Like I said, the movie never overcomes the ickiness of the whole catfish situation. While Natalie does throw this in Josh’s face a couple of times, she is for the most part quite understanding. Unfortunately, I could see what the movie was planning from a mile away, and I was hoping ardently that this wouldn’t be the case.
Dobrev and Yang don’t have chemistry together, and I think the film would have worked better if it sold us a friendship angle rather than romance. The movie is actually pretty funny – Yang’s quick wit is apparent, he is a comedian after all, and Dobrev commits wholeheartedly to all the embarrassing situations the movie puts her in. The second-hand embarrassment I got from watching her was almost too much at times. Harry Shum Jr’s performance as Josh’s annoying brother Owen is also on point, and as someone who watched Glee, it was amazingly hilarious to watch him strut his stuff during the musical performances.
There isn’t chemistry between Dobrev and Barnet either, and for a film that markets itself as a rom-com, it just doesn’t do justice to one side of the equation. Barnet also looks completely over it, and his performance was pretty weak and phoned in. Despite the fact that Natalie is the main character, we never learn much about her. Josh is actually given more character development, while we barely know anything about Natalie besides her desire for love. In some ways, the film does seem like a copy of While You Were Sleeping, since Natalie, much like Sandra Bullock’s Lucy, is very much alone during the holidays. In contrast, Josh’s family is more rambunctious and warm. The huge difference is that While You Were Sleeping is just insanely more competent – the relationships feel real, and Lucy actually becomes close to them in an authentic way.
In this film, Natalie doesn’t really bond with anyone but Josh, and like I said, the burgeoning romance between them is not believable. The film is entertaining, and I laughed a whole lot, but it isn’t a good rom-com.
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