Films like Companion and Hearts Eyes have put a unique twist on the traditional romantic genre. Love and heartbreak remain important elements, and audiences will get plenty of that in the new Ke Huy Quan-leading romantic-action-comedy film “Love Hurts.” The title, which suggests that love is painful, it scars, wounds, and marks any heart, couldn’t be more true for the cast who get put through the wringer as they get punched, kicked, stabbed, shot at, and thrown through walls and glass, all the while confronting the complications of love. Taking its stunt cues from action legend Jackie Chan, the Jonathan Eusebio-directed film features a fun pairing of the most romantic holiday with a genre that is anything but subtle. Usually, such a combination would make for an engaging formula. However, for “Love Hurts,” it feels more like style over substance.
The film follows Marvin Gable (Quan), a former hitman-turned-successful realtor, whose new life is upended when Rose (Arianna DeBose), a woman from his past, seeks his help to confront their former employer, Knuckles (Daniel Wu), who also happens to be Marvin’s brother. Marvin finds himself trying to outrun the life that he left behind, he discovers that hiding isn’t living and that there’s no escaping it, especially when Knuckles has set assassins to bring him in alive for failing to kill Rose.
Part of the fun with 87North Production films is the clever and inventive ways the stunt choreography works itself into the story and puts a fun twist on the genre. The problem is there’s no cohesion between the action and its half-baked plot. Going into the film, one would see that “Love Hurts” wants to be a romantic-action-comedy, with the film set around Valentine’s Day, the love notes being dropped, Rose defacing Marvin’s relator signs with silly mustaches, and the knife-wielding and artistic The Raven (Mustafa Shakir) reciting poetry to his possible love interest and Marvin’s assistant, Ashley (Lio Tipton), Then there’s King (André Erickson) and Otis (Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch), Knuckle’s mismatched enforcers, who are tasked with bringing Marvin in and delivering the film’s comedic moments with their bantering on love. However, none of that comes together as one would like. Instead, the film’s characters fight as hard against each other as it fights for what it wants to be.
“Love Hurts” marks Eusbiso’s directorial debut. And it shows. While the career stunt coordinator has made a name for himself working on films like “The Bourne Legacy,” “300,” “Deadpool 2,” and “The Fall Guy,” the film feels like an amalgamation of the unused action and stunt choreography of those or any 87North Production films set against the backdrop of Valentine’s Day. Sure, the spectacle of it all is there, from Marvin fighting The Raven in a real estate office, all the while trying to shut out any prying eyes from entering to Marvin becoming a spider-monkey and using improvised kitchen weaponry to fight Otis and King in a home that he’s trying to sell. The camera work in the latter can be fun as a precious award that Marvin is trying to preserve and acts as our guide. Watching it being tossed around from the microwave to the refrigerator gives us a fun perspective of what’s happening on and off-screen.
But the shtick runs its course. “Love Hurts” then reverts back to trying to figure out what it wants to be. So much of the film surrounds itself on this redemption story of Marvin trying to reinvent himself after cutting off ties with his brother when he did not kill Rose like he was supposed to do. Marvin has done so much to put his past behind him by creating a new identity for himself and going as far as not telling his associates the truth about himself or his family. That said, the ways that the film goes about bringing Marvin out of the shadows are messy as they try to connect the dots in ways that don’t make sense. Then, it tries to assert itself as a love story, with The Raven finally finding someone who understands his poetry. King tries to figure out how to get in his wife’s good graces with the help of Otis’s advice. Though both aspects provide a comedic look at modern love, it doesn’t have much to do with the story. Only when these characters interact with Marvin do they feel integral to the story. The film tries to force this half-baked love story between Marvin and Rose, which doesn’t come off as well on screen as on paper since that dynamic doesn’t organically develop as it should. Not only that, but the action and stunt choreography and poor script leave many of the characters undeveloped and give us an emotionally detached story. Some character deaths don’t hit as hard, considering how one-dimensional they are and that we don’t get to spend time with them.
Quan makes for a fun lead, considering his role subverts what audiences have come to know and love from action films. The deceptive front has audiences believing that someone like Marvin couldn’t be capable of being a mod enforcer. Yet, the way the Academy Award-winning actor takes command of the screen is exciting. Taking cues from Jackie Chan and Buster Keaton, his fight choreography makes an emphasis on inventive weaponry, fast hands, quick feet, and appropriate reactions that elicit laughter. However, one of the trade-offs with that is the camera cuts take away from how great the action could be. Oftentimes, the poor editing doesn’t showcase the action’s agility and fluidity. These edits and the repetitiveness of some of the action sequences only make the film longer than it should be and reveal the importance of having a story that could support the action.
For what it’s worth, “Love Hurts” is cheesy when it wants to be. Quan effortlessly commits to the role, knowing that this is his first leading role after stepping away from acting for nearly two decades. He confronts outdated Hollywood leading man archetypes without fear, which makes it fun to watch him flex his performance muscles and show how versatile he can be as he fights the Lynch and Erickson duo, as well as Shakir, all the while acting opposite DeBose. But at times, there’s no dynamic or anything to engage us with other than the action itself. The undeveloped story, lack of chemistry, and no emotional stakes make something like “Love Hurts” painful to watch.
6/10
“Love Hurts” in theaters February 7, 2025.
