The Oxford dictionary defines guilty pleasure as, “something, such as a movie, television program, or piece of music, that one enjoys despite feeling that it is not generally held in high regard.” My personal guilty pleasure is the cheesy romantic comedies that come out every year around Christmas; specifically, the Netflix originals. 

At heart, these movies all follow the same formula and always end with someone in love, but alas, they are my guilty pleasure, despite the haters.

Nov. 5th, 2021, Netflix released yet another Christmas rom-com entitled Love Hard. Unlike most movies in this genre, I had high expectations for Love Hard because of its lead actress Nina Dobrev, who played the lead part of Natalie Bauer. Nina is most commonly recognized for her outstanding role in The Vampire Diaries—yet another guilty pleasure of mine—and for this reason, I expected an equally exceptional performance in Love Hard. 

And I was not disappointed in terms of how the cast portrayed their characters. Given that Nina was the only actress I had prior knowledge of, Josh Lin, who was played by played Jimmy O. Yang, had a noteworthy performance as the main character’s love interest. For a movie that barely scratches the surface of deep emotions, he did an excellent job engaging the audience by tugging on the side of humans that can’t help but root for the underdog. He was definitely everyone’s favorite loveable, good guy. 

Aside from the enjoyable actors and actresses’ performance, the plot itself is about a girl named Natalie Bauer who goes on one horrific date after another in search of love through the use of a dating website. She was about to lose hope when, all of a sudden, she matches up with the “perfect guy.” But, their relationship comes to a crashing halt when she meets him in person and discovers her “perfect guy” is not at all what she had expected. 

When broken down on a deeper level, Love Hard does have some insightful thoughts on the modern world of online dating. It has overarching themes that warn the female audience, in particular, of the dangers that come when going out with someone from the internet. In turn, it also provides semi-valuable lessons that formulate after the initial threat in a very light-hearted and fun way. But despite the potential value this movie might have between each cheesy sense, I don’t see it being anything more than what it is: a guilty pleasure. 

I will continue watching Christmas rom-coms that are made by Netflix until they stop making them because of the pure satisfaction I get from knowing exactly how it is going to end before I even press play; these types of movies are perfect for me to have a good time while not using any brainpower. However, with each new movie that has the same old plot that I inevitably watch, I can’t help but ache for a classic, yet thrilling romance to grace my television screen with its presence.

But until then, movies such as Love Hard will have to do.