Love Hurts review:
Love Hurts | ★★☆☆☆ | Dir. Jonathan Eusebio
Ke Huy Quan completed an astounding career comeback with 2023’s Everything Everywhere All At Once, winning an Oscar for his part in the surreal action hit. Other than a support role in Marvel’s Loki series, things have been relatively quiet since then.
Love Hurts is Quan’s first lead role since his resurgence, playing chipper real estate agent Marvin, who has left his life as a hitman behind to sell houses. His civilian bliss is upended, however, when an ex-partner (Ariana DeBose) comes out of hiding to get revenge on their former boss, Marvin’s brother Knuckles.
The film offers a similar appeal to 2021’s Nobody, following a middle-aged man with an unexpected background as a hitman. It seemingly has everything needed to succeed, particularly given Quan’s irrepressible positivity and likeable on-screen presence. It’s a shame, then, that everything surrounding him misses the target.
The script is a jumble, going in different directions that feel meaningless, and never spending enough time to develop the characters we’re supposed to care about. The action is also rather cartoonish, meaning the stakes never seem as high as the shaky dialogue insists they are.
The stars have some semblance of chemistry, even if DeBose tries a bit too hard to portray Quan as some irresistible action hero. The rest of the cast seem trapped in a vortex of cliches borrowed from other films. Fans of The Goonies will be delighted to see Sean Astin reunite with Quan on-screen, if only briefly.
There is definitely potential for Ke Huy Quan to build on the amazing performance that made him an Oscar winner, but Love Hurts isn’t the film to do it. Achieving little as an action film or a comedy, it’s proof that a talented star can’t save a bad film.
Love Hurts is in cinemas now