‘Love Hard’: Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang, Charles Melton Star In Netflix’s Dating App Romantic-Comedy
The Netflix romantic-comedy machine never stops working, and the streamer’s latest rom-com is tapping into today’s most popular mode of dating: the dating app. Headlining the latest rom-com, titledLove Hard, will be Nina Dobrev, who stars as a girl who falls for a hot guy on a dating app and flies across the country to surprise him. But naturally, things don’t go as expected.
Nina Dobrev,Jimmy O. Yang(SpaceForce) andCharles Melton(Riverdale) are set to star in the Netflix rom-comLove Hard, which will be directed byHernán Jiménez, who directedAbout UsandElsewhere. The spec script was written by Danny Mackey and literary agent-turned screenwriter Rebecca Ewing, according to Deadline, which was described as “When Harry Met SallymeetsRoxanne.” That pitch caught the attention of Netflix, which acquired the project last August. The movie will be produced by McG and Mary Viola through their Wonderland banner. Steven Bello will executive produce.
Netflix announced the casting of Dobrev, Yang, and Melton in a tweet Friday: “Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang and Charles Melton will star in the upcoming Netflix movie LOVE HARD, about a girl who falls for a hot guy on a dating app and flies across the country to surprise the man she’s never met in person for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?”
Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang and Charles Melton will star in the upcoming Netflix movie LOVE HARD, about a girl who falls for a hot guy on a dating app and flies across the country to surprise the man she’s never met in person for Christmas. What could possibly go wrong?
(📸Getty)pic.twitter.com/vRveJM8KGS
— NetflixFilm (@NetflixFilm)July 09, 2025
The premise described by Netflix sounds innocuous enough, but reports detailLove Hardas a catfishing rom-com — Dobrev’s unlucky in love LA girl flies to the East Coast to surprise her dating app love interest for Christmas, only to discover she’s been duped. But the catfisher (likely Yang, if we’re going by assumptions) offers to set her up with the guy in his profile if she pretends to be his girlfriend for the holidays.
Cyrano de Bergerac, which inspired the 1987 Steve Martin comedyRoxanne, seems to be enjoying a resurgence in popularity, at least with Netflix, which has used the 1897 Edmond Rostand play as its basis for not one, but two of its recent films — the very badSierra Burgess is a Loserand thesurprisingly goodThe Half of It. Where willLove Hardfall? The premise ofCyrano— an “unsightly” man who tries to woo a beautiful girl through a more handsome suitor — has always been a little backwards, but Netflix seems to be really attached to it. And with catfishing a popular part of the vernacular now, it makes for an easy fit.
