Love Hurts Review – Disappointment Hurts Far Worse

I wanted to love Love Hurts very badly, but Ke Huy Quan can only do so much. This is the starring role that finally places the beloved returning talent where he belongs. It should’ve been the high point of the man’s career, but it feels like a missed opportunity. Love Hurts simply refuses to meet Quan on his level. It brings terrible execution to a simple premise and squanders all of its goodwill by its conclusion. I can only hope we find another vehicle for Quan to shine once more.

This film sells itself more on its producers than on its first-time director. Johnathan Eusebio comes from the world of stunt performance, along with Quan and producer David Leitch. Leitch’s involvement ties the project in with the John Wick universe, Bullet Train, and Nobody. I love this empire of once-underappreciated performers, even when it turns out unimpressive entries like this one. Some blame must also go to the writers Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore. They have hardly a dozen credits between them, and the lack of experience shows.

A Home For Someone

Ke Huy Quan stars as Marvin Gable, an accomplished real estate agent with an infectious sense of positivity. We see him sell one McMansion after another to wealthy families with a level of optimism that would be off-putting in real life. It’s never a routine for him; he just loves putting people in houses. Unfortunately, a young lady named Rose (Ariana DeBose) returns to Gable’s life, bringing the past he escaped crashing into his new world. Gable’s last career as a gang enforcer under his mobbed-up brother, Knuckles, ended when he chose to defy his sibling and let Rose live. Her return prompts Knuckles to send a mess of colorful assassins after Gable, forcing him to return to a life of violence to defend himself. Though he swears he loves his new life, Rose wants the old Marvin back, and she’ll stop at nothing to get it.

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The premise of Love Hurts works fine enough, but its execution falls flat. It’s John Wick with a comedic touch, but far too much irony. Like Wick, Gable is a man trying to live after leaving behind violence. Unlike Keanu Reeves’ beloved assassin, Gable’s second chapter practically feels like a new human being. He hates the person he used to be and loves his simple life as a real estate agent. He is convinced that the previous Gable is dead and the new one got away clean. This is the premise and central theme of this movie, but the script’s failure to address and tie up a very familiar concept is the fatal flaw that sinks its narrative. I genuinely couldn’t believe how flagrantly they fumbled this idea. It’s like they kept putting off writing the resolution until they got to the script’s conclusion and sent it out unfinished.

Lovers and Fighters

The cast of Love Hurts is its strongest asset, and Ke Huy Quan is its shining light. The 53-year-old actor returned to the spotlight after Everything Everywhere All at Once, but this is his first proper lead role. While that project perfectly positioned him for stardom, this one seems happy to ride his coattails. Someone was going to give him a star vehicle, and this is far from the worst it could have been. He’s excellent in every scene, delivering both frenetic action and wacky comedy with aplomb. I can’t celebrate Quan enough here. He lands comedic violence like Jackie Chan in his prime and sells the emotional moments without issue. Gable wins impossible battles, but the most impressive victory in the film is Quan’s ability to beat the script. I know this film will flop, but I hope people see through it to give him his flowers.

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Quan stars alongside a mixed bag of supporting performers. Ariana DeBose, for example, followed her Oscar-winning performance in West Side Story with a generational run of flops. Her decent movies, notably I.S.S. and House of Spoils, tank as severely as Argylle or Kraven the Hunter. DeBose is far less successful at tangling with the awful script. She shares a pitiful Blade Runner theatrical cut-esque voiceover track with Quan that seems almost hostile toward her. Daniel Wu gets nothing to do as Knuckles, a villain free from intimidation. Quan’s former Goonies co-star Sean Astin gets a few sentimental moments that feel like questionable nods to the actor’s career. NFL great Marshawn Lynch has a fun turn as a henchman alongside actor/rapper André Eriksen. Poor Rhys Darby shows up just to suffer horrible violence. Finally, Netflix Cowboy Bebop survivor Mustafa Shakir steals the show as a hilarious poet/murderer called The Raven.

Love Hurts comes in at a breezy 83 minutes. Would a little more time save the project? No, but maybe a few script rewrites would have. They could have sprung for 90 minutes and filled that extra seven with even one attempt at narrative resolution. Ke Huy Quan is so much better than this. He deserves better than this. Love Hurts proves that the John Wick format has its limits. If all you want is a few compelling fight scenes and a solid lead performance, Love Hurts will be relatively painless. Unfortunately, Quan’s first starring role fell well short of his potential.