Love Hard: The 10 Most Likable Main Characters, Ranked

The Christmas season has officially begun according to Netflix. To kick off the holiday season, the streaming service released Love Hard, their latest Christmas-themed romantic comedy. The movie follows Natalie (Nina Dobrev), a journalist who decides to surprise her long-distance boyfriend for the holidays. However, when she arrives she learns she’s been catfished.

While many viewers would think that a movie about catfishing would include tons of terrible characters who fans hate, that’s not the case with Love Hard. Instead, most of the characters are complex and find themselves in between the naughty and nice list.

10 Lee

While most of the Love Hard characters have redeeming moments and/or qualities, Lee (Matty Finochio) is the one exception. Lee is Natalie’s overbearing boss who expects her to continue to go on terrible dates so that their content doesn’t die out.

Even when Natalie reveals she’s seeing a great guy who she’s spending the holidays with, Lee encourages her to write about it and prays that it’ll end up being a disaster. Thankfully Lee isn’t in too many scenes and his Scrooge-ness doesn’t ruin the whole movie but he’s definitely one of the worst on-screen bosses in a long time.

9 Owen

Owen (Harry Shum Jr.) is the antagonist in Josh’s (Jimmy O. Yang) life. As his younger brother, Owen loves to rub his success in Josh’s face. Self-described as the “prodigal son,” Owen storms into his family’s house and immediately starts insulting his brother in front of Natalie.

He continues to steal the spotlight from Josh, going as far as announcing he and his wife are expecting during Christmas carols. However, Owen has a tiny moment of redemption at the end of the movie when he confronts Natalie after witnessing her on a dinner date with someone else. Their relationship might not be perfect, but it’s clear that Owen does love and care about his brother.

8 Chelsea

Chelsea (Mikaela Hoover) is Owen’s devoted wife who eats up the attention just like Owen. Though she goes along with Owen’s shenanigans she isn’t the one to initiate the attention-stealing which is why fans give her a little slack.

However, most fans will agree that Chelsea should have stepped in more to keep Owen from going too far. While she’s not responsible for his actions she definitely didn’t need to go along with all of them so openly.

7 Bob

Every great Christmas movie needs a family patriarch and in Love Hard, that role falls on Bob (Jame Saito). Like most fathers around the holidays, Bob is a bit checked out and doesn’t play a huge role in the movie but when he does appear drama and laughs are sure to come.

Bob is quickly established as a no-nonsense, stubborn father. This is highlighted when Natalie learns that Josh makes candles but refuses to tell his father because he fears being rejected. Though Bob is a tough-love sort of man, he shows his softer side towards the end of the movie with his engagement party speech.

6 Barb

Barb (Rebecca Staab) is your traditional overbearing, smothering mother and it works tremendously well in Love Hard. She’s the first to greet Natalie and instantly falls in love with her simply because she likes Josh.

Unlike some moms, Barb never criticizes Natalie and instead is all in when Josh proposes to Natalie while Christmas caroling. She doesn’t even bat an eye at the fact that these two just meet but rather immediately starts planning the wedding.

5 Natalie

As the lead, one would assume that Natalie is the most liked character for fans of Love Hard but that’s not necessarily the case. Just like the rest of the characters, Natalie is a flawed character who fans end up loving. While fans initially feel bad for her when she discovers she’s been catfished, that quickly goes out the window.

Natalie loses her victim identity when she chooses to catfish Tag (Darren Barnet). She might not pretend to look like someone else but she does alter her entire personality in an attempt to impress him. After feeling the emotional heartbreak that comes with catfishing fans hated that she then did the same thing to someone else.

4 Josh

Josh (Jimmy O. Yang) is the rom-com lead everyone needs. While Josh originally starts off as a villain of sorts for catfishing Natalie, everyone is quick to forgive him for his mistakes. This is especially true when he admits that he didn’t mean to catfish Natalie and instead was conducting an experiment to see why he wasn’t getting matches on the dating app.

Lying to a significant other is a pretty despicable thing but Josh redeems himself quickly by being honest and open with Natalie. He even tells her about his candle business which no one else knows about. It’s clear that Josh never meant to hurt Natalie and instead really cares about her.

3 Tag

It seems ironic that the conventionally attractive player in Love Hard is the victim in the love story but that is the case for Tag (Darren Barnet). After all, Tag had no idea that his cousin was secretly using pictures of him on a dating app to see if more girls would interact with him.

Though Tag might be a player, fans are in agreement that Natalie should have never catfished him the way she did. His outburst at the engagement party was arguably warranted and, throughout the film, Tag proves himself to be a thoroughly likable guy.

2 Kerry

Kerry (Heather McMahan) is a classic example of a quirky rom-com BFF. Not only is Kerry Natalie’s coworker, but she’s also her best friend and closest confidant.

Kerry proves herself to be a hilarious and supportive friend who ends up being the reason Natalie and Josh start talking in the first place since she changes Natalie’s profile setting. Even when things are going horrible for Natalie, Kerry encourages her to see things through because she believes everything will work out.

1 Grandma June

Grandma June (Althea Kaye) is a hilarious and no-nonsense grandma who immediately wins over viewers the minute she appears on the screen. She’s a fierce advocate for Josh and Natalie even when Owen starts to sow seeds of doubt with her family. She even gives Josh her wedding ring when he unexpectedly proposes to Natalie.

Grandma June isn’t just sweet, she’s also downright hilarious. She has no problem making jokes and calling out the members of her family when they’re being less than perfect. This combination of kind and funny makes her easily the most likable character in Love Hard.

About The Author

Danielle Bruncati
(298 Articles Published)

Danielle Bruncati was born and raised in Southern California and has been a story-teller for as long as she can remember. She is currently a freelance writer for ScreenRant and is also pursuing a Master’s Degree in Television Writing and Producing from a top 10 film school. When she’s not writing, Danielle can be found binging the latest sitcom or teen tv series with her dog by her side or walking around Disneyland with a Mickey-shaped snack in hand.

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