What I’m watching: something old and something newDate: 11/22/2021 There’s something about the cheesy, Hallmark-style movies that always get me.
They’re always the same. The formula remains: one main character meets the other main character – they have a meet cute. Then, they’re at odds somehow; they don’t like each other, or there’s an obstacle in their way. In the end, all’s forgotten or the obstacle is removed and the pair falls in love and lives happily ever after. The end.
These movies are predictable, and they are my kryptonite. I was talking with Executive Editor Mike Dobbs a few weeks ago about these movies – everyone in the news department knows that I love them – and he noted that one of his friends described a specific genre of movie that an individual particularly enjoys can be considered their “comfort food.”
Holiday romances are my comfort food – and I always go back for seconds.
Something New – On Netflix: “Love Hard”
At the start of Netflix’s new holiday movie, “Love Hard,” we meet Natalie Bauer (Nina Dobrev). Natalie has been unlucky in love for years – so much so, that her job as a writer in L.A. revolves around divulging her dating fiascos for the world to read online.
She turns to online dating on an app, sets no boundaries as to how far away a potential partner could live from her home-base in California, and matches with Josh Lin (Jimmy O. Yang), an East-coaster. On the app, Josh is shown as a tall, scruffy-bearded brunette, muscular male who enjoys traveling and adventure. Natalie is instantly attracted to Josh, and the two hit it off – bonding over their disagreement in what the best Christmas movie is. Josh insists “Love Actually” is the best, whereas Natalie is a fan of “Die Hard” – hence, Netflix titling this movie, “Love Hard.”
The two connect, talking over text but also on the phone. Josh confirms that he is a real person – sending Natalie a photo of himself holding up a sign that reads her name. Natalie feels as though this relationship is too good to be true.
Well ... she was right.
Natalie opts to fly across the country on a whim and surprise Josh for Christmas. Instead of the tall, grunge, outdoorsy man she was promised, Natalie finds Josh is a shorter, quirky male who wears glasses and lives in his parents’ basement. He does not resemble the man who he was moonlighting as on social media – whose photos are actually a local former-friend of his named Tag (Darren Barnet) – one of which he photoshopped Natalie’s name into.
Josh manages to convince Natalie that if she agrees to stay for the holidays and pretend to be his girlfriend to his family, he will set her up with Tag. Natalie obliges.
I won’t give away too much more, however Netflix does set up an interesting parallel between the catfishing that Josh performed on Natalie, and the changes that Natalie makes to herself to get into the good graces of Tag. For instance, Natalie is a vegetarian, and Tag’s family owns a steakhouse. She convinced herself that it would be ‘ok’ to eat a little bit of meat, even though morally she is against it. She also told Tag that she loves rock climbing, and his favorite author – neither of which were true.
By the end of the movie, Natalie realizes she was doing the exact same thing that Josh did to her, and she realizes that what she fell in love with about Josh was his personality and interests. In the end, the unlikely pair finds their way back to each other, and they all live happily ever after.
I felt that the movie’s weakest point, though, was that Natalie realized her love for Josh rapidly. I didn’t think there was enough of a build up of an attraction between the two. It felt rushed, and didn’t make me believe that the two were head over heels in love with each other.
Weakness aside, I did enjoy this movie, and I thought it was an interesting, modern take on the traditional storyline of a holiday romantic comedy. If readers are looking to add a light-hearted Christmas movie to their rotation, you might enjoy “Love Hard.”
Something Old – On Netflix: “The Holiday”
Though “The Holiday” came out in 2006, this movie is a fan-favorite for all of the romantic Christmas love-story devotees.
What makes “The Holiday” stand out for me is that it’s not a story about one couple finding love, but multiple couples finding love – some romantically, some through friendship, and some discover love for themselves.
We meet our two leading ladies – another aspect to this film that I love, the two main characters are women – who live polar-opposite lives. Iris (Kate Winslet) lives in Southeast England, Surrey, to be exact. She’s a writer at a newspaper, and is hopelessly in love with her ex-boyfriend Jasper (Rufus Sewell) who is a writer at the same company ... who cheated on her with a woman in the circulation department. Jasper remained dating the other woman, but continued to string Iris along, knowing Iris was still in love with him.
Our second leading lady is Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) who owns a successful business that produces movie trailers in Los Angeles, CA. When we first meet Amanda, we witness her breaking up with her then live-in boyfriend, Ethan (Edward Burns) as she found out he was cheating on her with his secretary.
Amanda is a work-aholic, and realizes post-breakup that she needs to make a drastic change, and for Amanda, this means taking a vacation. She goes online and finds a listing of Iris’s adorable, rustic cottage, and reaches out to Iris asking if the home would be available at Christmas. When she sends Iris this message, we find Iris in a bad state, however Iris realizes she wants her own adventure. She tells Amanda that the house is available, but it’s available on one condition – that the two do a “house swap,” where they swap homes, cars – everything for two weeks. The women agree, and off they go.
As the movie goes on, we watch Iris deal with her own self-esteem issues and love for Jasper that she’s trying to shed, and we watch Amanda work on her inability to show emotion and relax. We see significant character development with the two as they work to drop the confines of the people they were prior to the trip.
In the meantime, the two each meet partners who were also unlucky in love. Iris finds Miles (Jack Black) who was cheated on by his unlikely girlfriend, an up-and-coming actress. In addition, Iris finds a strong friendship with Arthur (Eli Wallach), the elderly neighbor who – as it turns out – is a multi-award-winning former movie director. Amanda finds Graham (Jude Law) who is Iris’s brother, and single father to two young girls, as he was widowed two years prior.
The story goes as the formula allows. Iris and Amanda have to reconcile with the fact that the men they’ve fallen in love with live on other sides of the world. In typical movie-fashion, though, this is quickly brushed past, because who needs to worry about logistics when you’re in love?
“The Holiday” is a classic Christmas love story. I appreciate the character development of each of the actors, as the viewer is able to get a great sense of who they are as people, what their struggles and strengths are and what they’re looking for out of life. This movie is a longer one, clocking in at 138 minutes, with an average movie being between 90 to 100 minutes.
It’s worth it in my book.
If you are interested in watching “The Holiday,” act fast – it’s only going to be on Netflix until Nov. 30.
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