One day, the return of Ke Huy Quan to the public eye will be studied in the history books of film. Already an Oscar winner for his supporting role in Everything, Everywhere, All At Once, the actor has seemingly been everywhere. From voice roles in Kung Fu Panda 4 to co-starring in the MCU with season 2 of Loki, Quan has been building an incredibly diverse resume. Now, with Love Hurts he gets the opportunity to lead a film for the first time in his career.
Love Hurts, despite the name, is hardly a romance film. Instead, it follows Marvin Gable (Quan) a real estate agent who comes face to face with his deadly past when an old ally-turned-enemy reappears on Valentine’s Day. It’s actually a fun concept that seems quite simple. The film struggles at times to make sense of its simple plot, introducing convoluted relationships without explanation often, but it’s still easy enough to follow what’s going on as the movie settles in. From the opening montage of Gable showing homes to potential buyers, it seems to be just an innocuous action comedy with a fun theme around it.
In fact, when you look at this film at a surface level, it’s not really that good. The romance is bad, there’s not a lot of chemistry between Quan and co-star Ariana DeBose, and the bad guys don’t seem all the scary. These are not factors that would typically equate to a fun time at the theaters.
But it’s important to know that Love Hurts is not a film to watch at surface level. I, luckily, discovered this quite early into the runtime. It was when a poetry-writing assassin named “The Raven” comes to kill Gable with his litany of knives during a Valentine’s Day office party. Silly concepts and bits like this are riddled throughout the film. When you combine that with action that was as gruesome as it is impressively performed, I was hooked.
Admittedly, the film falters as the story progresses. Ariana DeBose and Ke Huy Quan do not have a believable love story. The incredibly short runtime (only 1 hour and 20 minutes) really contributes to that. But I also believe that the filmmakers knew this. They were clearly not going for a deep love story or revolutionary action. In fact, some of the best parts of the film are when it’s overtly silly. Marshawn Lynch, especially, has some really great one-liners, and plenty of moments in the film drew riotous laughs from the folks in my theater.
Love Hurts is at its best through when Ke Huy Quan gets to channel his inner Jackie Chan, putting the hurt on bad guys with his fists and also the things around him. It’s cool to see, too, because you forget how proficient Quan is at martial arts because on the surface, he just looks like a fun guy to be around, not a fighter. The film plays into this unassuming nature and uses it as a character trait for Marvin Gable.
Final Thoughts
Love Hurts is the kind of action comedy that is perfect for a holiday party or an evening with friends. It’s funny, has really solid action and it gets in and gets out quickly. It’s not a revolutionary film by any means, but it is one you can turn on and enjoy. It’s mostly forgettable, but I feel like every Valentine’s Day, action fans can turn this on and enjoy it as a change of pace from the standard rom-com.
3/5
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I have been watching movies my whole life and fell in love at an early age. I was entranced by the ability for a film to whisk me away to a different universe, and that really started with the Star Wars Franchise. I'm by no means an expert and can roll with opinions that might be controversial, but that's the beauty of a film; we can all see the same thing on screen, but each of us may come away with a different interpretation of what we saw. When I'm not watching movies, I work in Marketing with my degree from Western New England University.
MY FAVORITE MOVIES: Good Will Hunting, Star Wars: A New Hope (or the whole saga), All The President's Men, Before Sunrise, Ocean's 11, In The Mood For Love and so many more...