What to Watch This Weekend – Love Hurts

Love Hurts is a story about accepting who we are and what we want. Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) loves his job. He works as a super successful real estate agent in a sleepy Wisconsin town and life is good. Most people, however, don’t know about Marvin’s previous job. A job where he worked as a vicious and brutal enforcer for his cruel, corrupt brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu). All that changed when Marvin completed one last job for Knuckles—making his accountant Rose (Ariana DeBose) “disappear.” Unexpectedly, Rose has reappeared. Leaving notes for all those who left her for dead, Rose taunts Knuckles’ all while coaxing Marvin out of retirement. Now it’s up to Marvin to decide whether to embrace his old impulses, or cling to his newly reformed life.

What works in Love Hurts are the action sequences, the comedy, and Quan’s energy. Leveraging elements of a bygone era, Love Hurts combines old school martial arts with modern situations. This results in kinetically charged fights that teem with both creativity and humor. First time director Jonathan Eusebio chooses brightly lit arenas to let his performers shine, along with camera positions that allow the audience to appreciate the athleticism. And all of it works thanks to Quan’s enthusiasm and sincerity. As proceedings get more and more absurd, Quan remains a rock of positivity. This enthusiasm and desire to deescalate situations makes him impossible not to cheer for throughout the entire film.

RELATED: Indiana Jones And Goonies Star Ke Huy Quan Would Reprise Iconic Roles If He Could

People who tire of films focused on old assassins being forced out of retirement may not enjoy Love Hurts as much as others. It’s easy to look at Love Hurts as having the same basic structure and formula as many similar films from the past two decades. What sets it apart is its emphasis on prop-based fighting, but this could come across as too silly (despite being intentional). To that point, Love Hurts is quite gory. Individuals who are squeamish about stabbings in particular, may be turned off. Finally, Love Hurts is ridiculous. While it takes place in the real world, all the characters are basically cartoons.

Love Hurts falls into a very, very specific genre of film. It’s the kind of movie where one has to not think all that hard about the plot and dismiss some cringy dialogue at times. Despite that, the action choreography is so sharp and playful that the result is net positive.

Recommended if you enjoyed: Bullet Train, Deadpool 2

Love Hurts is available to see exclusively in theaters starting on February 7^th, 2025.

The post What to Watch This Weekend – Love Hurts appeared first on LRMonline.