Welcome to the official independent newspaper run by students of Hofstra University!

"True Love" seems to be a beautiful love story between Natalie Ball (Nina Dobrev) and Josh Lin (Jimmy Young). After Natalie's countless failed dating encounters, the unpredictable couple met on a dating website. She thought Josh was the one she dreamed of, and took all risks to fly 3,000 miles from California to New York to surprise "the love of her life" for Christmas.

Upon arrival, when Natalie saw Josh for the first time, she quickly realized that it was a complete mistake and that his face was far from the profile face. After escaping her problem and going to the local bar to get drunk, she saw the "real" Josh, aka Tiger. Natalie and Josh have reached an agreement that she will pretend to be his girlfriend before Christmas, and he will help her get along with Tag. 

From that moment on, it was obvious that Natalie would eventually fall in love with the real Josh instead of Tiger. Like most other clichéd Christmas romantic comedies, almost the entire movie is predictable. The difference in "Love Hard" is the way they discuss the catfish problem. Yes, Natalie expressed the feeling of being betrayed and injured, but she seemed to overcome it quickly. Josh hardly showed any remorse for the way he treated Natalie, and in the end, everyone regarded him as a victim. 

Although Natalie fell in love with Josh's character from the beginning, she was still easily fooled. He uses images of his best friend from elementary school to attract women, which is what caused Natalie to slide to the right. By getting the two leads to end up together, Netflix is ​​romanticizing the catfish, which is not good at all. The plot sends the wrong message that even if you catch someone, they might still fall in love with you in the end. Rewarding catfish is never the answer.

In the last scene, Natalie confessed to everyone in Josh's life, expressing her regret for those who pretended to be not her, and everyone sympathized with Josh. They actually felt sorry for the man who caught a girl and let her fly 3,000 miles to surprise him. Although it is obvious that this is the direction of "Tough Guy", it still feels uncomfortable when watching it.

The film itself has poor writing skills, mediocre performances, clichés, and of course your classic Christmas romantic comedy plot point. This is an ordinary, ordinary romantic comedy, although it lacks comedy and the romance is all wrong.

If you really like Christmas romantic comedies, unfortunately, "Love Hard" is disappointing. 

Please note that only Hofstra students at school can be part of our staff writing team.

Thank you for your attention! Please click here to join our Slack workspace and indicate some of your preferences in the #section-join-requests channel. Thank you, we look forward to working with you!