This the season for sweaters, warm beverages, and oh yes, Christmas flicks. Getting ahead of this year’s celebrations, Hernán Jiménez’s “Love Hard” does its utmost to win over romantic comedy enthusiasts with a contemporary story of a dating app match gone astray. Some moments are sweeter than others, but generally, this cookie-cutter rom-com offers nothing more or less than what its subgenre expects.
Natalie (Nina Dobrev) is a lady in L.A. who has built a profession out of blogging about her awful love life for a cringe-worthy site. After a spate of especially painful failures, a buddy increases her dating app’s search radius to encompass the entire nation. Finally, she fits with a pleasant face who’s fun to chat to and engaging. After a particularly lengthy discussion, the long-distance digital lover sighs that he hopes Natalie would be there for Christmas.
At her friend and boss’ request (the latter wants another catastrophic dating column out of the experience), Natalie flies across the nation to Lake Placid, New York, to meet the guy of her dreams. But when she gets there, Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) doesn’t look like the photographs he provided her. He used the images of a former buddy, Tag (Darren Barnet), to chat to ladies after being rejected on dating apps for so long. Outraged but now stranded in Lake Placid without her bags, Natalie resolves to remain and pass herself off as Josh’s girlfriend in order to impress his family. In exchange, Josh vows to assist her win over the guy whose images she first fell for even if it’s as dishonest as what Josh did to her.
However, despite the lack of Christmas cheer, “Love Hard” has its heartwarming moments. Josh’s family—which includes Grandma (Takayo Fischer), his dad Bob, step-mother Barb, and competitive brother Owen and his wife Chelsea (Harry Shum Jr.)—is always a winner, playing up the pressure on the fake marriage to keep up the deception…. Although Daniel Mackey and Rebecca Ewing’s writing sometimes veers from “how lovely, how hilarious” to “cheap cynicism,” it’s still a solid piece of work. That moment when Natalie downs shots at a bar to give herself a jolt of bravery before attempting to seduce Tag is perhaps the most heinous of the bunch. She’s allergic to the fruit in the injections, and her face expands as a result. Played for laughs, but it’s cringe-inducing in an otherwise enjoyable comedy.
“Love Hard” also has an interesting feature: some of the story’s narrative aspects appear to have been influenced by current events. Even MTV ran a series on catfishing, the practise of claiming to be someone else online, since it’s so prevalent in the online dating world. Josh explains to Natalie that he catfished her because he fears that Asian males would be marginalised on dating apps. According to Natalie, “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” has been the subject of several stories concerning its lyrical content. Her claims that “Die Hard” isn’t appropriate for Christmas? It’s the same. Even though they’re relevant, these facts don’t appear to mesh as well with the tale or the characters as other parts of the film. They seem to have been introduced at some point in the writing process.
No matter how much more Christmassy “Love Hard” is, I don’t think it will be as popular as “Die Hard.” This show has a lot going for it, but it’s not enough to rescue Dobrev and Yang from the predictable situations, simple comedy misunderstandings and awkward set-up mistakes that they have to deal with. In addition, the movie’s internal logic isn’t always consistent; for example, how Natalie vehemently opposes to even hearing “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” on the radio yet stays around to aid the person who lied to her anyhow To experience the happiness that “Love Hard” aspires to provide, you must purchase the whole sleigh trip. Scrooge may not appreciate it, but that’s why there are so many Christmas movies out there every year.
Release Date Of Love Hard
The story revolves on a young lady who goes to her internet crush’s hometown for Christmas, only to realise that she has been catfished. Yang and Darren Barnet wrote the script. It was produced by Wonderland Sound and Vision and shot in Vancouver from October to November 2020, with the release date set for November 2020. Netflix will premiere the film on November 5, 2021, in the United States.
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Cast Of Love Hard
With Nina Dobrev in the starring role of Natalie, a Los Angeles-based writer who goes to see her internet sweetheart in his hometown for Christmas, she discovers she’s a victim of catfishing. Additionally, Jimmy O. Yang plays Josh Lin, the catfish, and Darren Barnet plays Tag, Natalie’s true love. They are both played by Darren Barnet. The film’s three protagonists are played by the actors mentioned above. Below, you can find the cast of the film.
- Nina Dobrev as Natalie Bauer
- Jimmy O. Yang as Josh Lin
- Darren Barnet as Tag
- Harry Shum Jr. as Owen Lin
- Mikaela Hoover as Chelsea
- James Saito as Bob Lin
- Rebecca Staab as Barb Lin
- Takayo Fischer as June Lin
- Heather McMahan as Kerry
- Lochlyn Munro as Rex
Storyline Of Love Hard
Her boss Lee demands that Natalie continue to go on disastrous dates since they produce intriguing information for the website she works for in Los Angeles. For whatever reason, she met Josh when her closest friend expanded her dating radius to include the whole country on her app. He’s a handsome outdoorsman who shares her love of the great outdoors. They build a deep bond and get to know one another over the course of two weeks of phone conversations.
Natalie booked Josh a 3,500-mile flight on the spur of the moment as a Christmas gift. Everyone in Josh’s family is thrilled that Josh has found someone to spend his life with, and she feels the same way when she first meets Josh’s family. Her impression of Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) is skewed by the photographs he supplied her.
The only way he could get any matches was to utilise Tag (Darren Barnet) as his subject. Natalie is enraged by this, so she decides to flee. In a local tavern, she runs upon Tag and falls head over heels in love at first sight.
She tells her closest friend about the development over the phone. Natalie is pushed to find a means to get his attention by her. Natalie downs two shots to lift her mood. Sadly, Natalie is allergic to kiwi, thus these are out of the question. She climbs the stage to sing karaoke to catch Tag’s attention, but she is quickly overtaken by an allergic reaction. She collapses due to the swelling in her face.
Upon Josh’s arrival at the same tavern, Natalie is brought to a hospital by Josh. Immediately upon realising she’s been discovered, she yells at him, expressing her anger and frustration. If she appears to be Josh’s girlfriend until Christmas Day, Tag will help Josh find her a new partner for the sake of Josh’s family. As a last resort, Natalie agrees to the idea.
Josh offers a variety of suggestions and techniques to help Tag fall over over heels in love with her. When they go climbing together, he even makes her practise rock climbing beforehand so she’ll be ready to go with Tag. They develop a tight bond throughout this period. As Natalie spends more and more time with Tag, the more she realises how different the two of them are.
As long as she appears to be Josh’s girlfriend, his family embraces her with open arms. His attention-seeking, “golden boy” brother Owen is always trying to outshine Josh during Christmas. Natalie urges Josh to reclaim his focus whenever Owen tries to take it away from him. When he listens to her advice, he opens up and becomes more personable. A Christmas duet between them is even performed.
When Owen and his girlfriend announce that they’re expecting, things take a turn for the worst. Josh unexpectedly pops the question to Natalie in front of his whole family. Natalie finally gives up to peer pressure and accepts. As a consequence of this, Natalie’s aspirations of a relationship with Tag are in peril. Josh has promised that this would not go place. No. Is it really feasible that Natalie will ever achieve genuine happiness?
End Lines
When Natalie chooses to stop things with Tag for this reason, she learns the genuine person she has affections for has been there in front of her all along—Josh. She then proposes to Josh, and the two appear like they’ll live their happily ever after together as the film concludes
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