The opening had me worried. Not a snow dusted Manhattan but a balmy Los Angeles. We see palm trees and a bright shining sun. A Beach Boys Christmas song is playing. Thankfully, there’s a twist. And the majority of the film is set in my stomping grounds, The Adirondacks.
Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev) writes a column that exploits her horrible online dating experiences. Natalie is the typical character for a role like this. Far too beautiful to be single. And Natalie wants to find true love, despite her boss wishing her to fail for sake of the column.
Nina Dobrev can play the part. She’s got the modern attitude that includes online dating apps but still pines for fairytale romance. And she loves Christmas. Natalie matches with a seemingly perfect guy. But there’s a catch. He lives in Lake Placid, New York. The furthest place away from sunny Southern California.
I was excited when the story moved to the mountains but quickly figured out it wasn’t filmed in Lake Placid. The setting includes the typical snow and holiday décor of the town. It also goes overboard to make it seem like everyone from Upstate New York is a hapless rube.
Natalie’s match is a man named Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) and it’s quickly revealed he used photos of a “better looking” guy on his profile. Natalie, who has flown 3,000 miles is obviously pissed. So Josh strikes a deal. Pretend to be my girlfriend for the holidays. In exchange, he introduces her to the real man from the photos (Darren Barnet). Gee, I wonder what’s going to happen…
“Love Hard” has some laughs. The characters work well with what they are given. I enjoy the modern touches of dating apps and the difficulty (but necessity) they provide. It’s funny to picture George Bailey on Tinder.
The downside comes from a lack of rooting interests. Josh clearly mislead Natalie with false photos. Natalie is concerned only with looks. Both options are pretty unlikeable. I kept waiting for them to connect on a more sensual level but they never really do. And the constant drubbing on Lake Placid grew tired. Not everyone who lives there is a mindless backwoods hunter. Natalie is at one point described as an LA 6 equating to a Lake Placid 10. Funny but not true. The movie was shot in Vancouver and its apparent the writers have never stepped foot in Lake Placid.
Not the worst but far from the best. “Love Hard” is a standard holiday movie that has laughs and emotion, but doesn’t go too far with either.
