In the build-up to the 2023 Academy Awards, it was incredibly hard to bet against Ke Huy Quan for his comeback performance as the lovable Waymond in the zany multiversal action-comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once. The former child star who won over our hearts in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom and The Goonies, was about to become an Academy Award winner. The action-comedy Love Hurts marks Quan’s first movie as the headliner since his Oscar win, and it has him starring alongside fellow Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose. What could possibly go wrong?
87North has become one of the most reliable production companies out there. David Leitch and Kelly McCormick’s studio has produced some killer action movies, including Nobody and Violent Night, turning Bob Odenkirk and David Harbour into badass action stars. The very thought of an actor as wholesome as Quan getting that action-star treatment was something that felt like a bonafide crowd-pleaser for action fans. On paper, Love Hurts felt like a recipe for success, but maybe the movie’s bizarrely short runtime of 83 minutes should have been a warning sign.
What Is ‘Love Hurts’ About?

Milwaukee realtor Marvin Gable (Quan) is as wholesome as they come. There’s no wonder why he has recently been awarded the Regional Realtor of the Year award. Despite what his constantly annoyed assistant Ashley (Lio Tipton) might tell you, Marvin is the kind of guy you’d want to buy a house from. Yet within his cheery exterior hides a dark past, one might say criminally so. For years, Marvin has been able to keep his past all but an afterthought, but it resurfaces when his former lover and partner-in-crime Rose (DeBose) comes to town.
Marvin’s estranged brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu) just so happens to be a dangerous crime lord, who years prior ordered him to kill Rose. Marvin ends up defying those orders and lets Rose go into hiding. Her reemergence puts a target on Marvin’s back, as he’ll have to finally stand up against his boba-tea-loving murderer of a brother.
For a movie with such a short runtime, one would think the story of Love Hurts would be more contained. Instead, the film is crammed with characters, often wasting some of its most talented cast members. Nobody goes to a movie like this for the plot, but the writing and storytelling in Love Hurts at times feel incomprehensible. In fact, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if we heard that the movie was butchered in the editing room.
Ke Huy Quan’s Reliable Charms Aren’t Enough To Save ‘Love Hurts’

There’s a reason why Ke Huy Quan won an Academy Award. It wasn’t just because of his inspirational narrative. He’s a genuinely good actor with an irresistible appeal. His history as a stunt choreographer also makes him the prime applicant to play an unlikely action hero. Quan has the physicality of his character down and is easily believable as a former assassin. Love Hurts works best whenever we get to see its hero duke it out with Knuckles’ zany henchmen such as King (Marshawn Lynch) and Raven (Mustafa Shakir). The action is creative, and Quan effortlessly sheds the wholesomeness for an effectively badass persona.
Quan’s co-star, Ariana DeBose, unfortunately, doesn’t get that same treatment. After winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in West Side Story, DeBose’s career has been a bumpy ride. From Wish to Argylle and most recently, Kraven the Hunter, it really didn’t seem like DeBose could ever catch a break. Her performance as Rose isn’t necessarily bad, but for a Valentine’s Day-set action movie, where a large chunk of the plot hinges on her romance with Quan’s character, she ultimately feels like an afterthought and nothing more than an underwritten love interest. The movie also never seems interested in diving deeper into her romantic connection to Marvin Gable. She barely even gets to share the screen with her co-star. Instead, the movie seems more focused on the awkward romance between Raven and Ashley. Because of the movie’s quick runtime, nobody really gets much to do. Most of Lynch’s screentime is spent with him repeatedly dropping the f-bomb while Daniel Wu’s villainous Knuckles mainly just sips on boba tea with a silver straw.
‘Love Hurts’ Wastes Its Potential

Image via Universal Pictures

Love Hurts marks the directorial debut of Jonathan Eusebio, a fight coordinator who has built up quite an impressive resume including the first three John Wick movies, Black Panther, and The Avengers. Make no mistake, the action in Love Hurts is pretty damn good, especially with how Eusebio portrays each of the characters’ fighting styles. Shakir’s Raven amusingly chucks throwing knives attached to raven feathers, while Quan’s Marvin is able to use his short stature to his advantage by sneaking up on henchmen. There are moments of greatness, it’s just too bad that the script isn’t able to live up to it.
The screenplay has much of the movie’s exposition play out through some of the most forced-use voice-overs you’ll see in a major Hollywood movie. There will be times when the film forgoes the narration only to bring it back 20 minutes later. It almost feels like the filmmakers weren’t given the budget to showcase what’s being told to us. So instead, we have to hear about Marvin and Rose’s backstory as it’s overlayed with footage of Rose solemnly driving a car.

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The editing style is also strange, often implementing quick cuts during some of the more mundane scenes. While we’ve seen that done successfully before, like in the films of Edgar Wright, here there’s just no sense of rhythm to the way the film is edited. The only time where the movie finds its voice is whenever we see Quan trading fisticuffs with the ensemble, but that still doesn’t come nearly as often as you’d like.
It’s easy to root for an actor like Quan, whose joyful social media presence paired with a rock-solid filmography, makes for a lovable movie star. It’s also easy to see why 87North wanted to give him his own action vehicle, especially since we don’t see many mainstream American action movies led by someone who looks like him. Unfortunately, Love Hurts never does its stars justice as a lazily slapped-together action-comedy with a script that feels like it never had a second draft.
Love Hurts is now playing in theaters.

Love Hurts

Love Hurts wastes the talents of Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose for a horribly written and sometimes incomprehensible action-comedy.

Release Date

February 7, 2025

Director

JoJo Eusebio

Writers

Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, Luke Passmore

Pros & Cons

Ke Huy Quan is as reliable as always and nails the physicality of his role.
Some of the action scenes are fun and creative.

The script relies far too much on narration and exposition to tell a story that barely makes any sense.
Ariana DeBose’s Rose is criminally underwritten and we never fully understand her backstory with Marvin.
The runtime struggles to give the movie’s supporting cast any time to shine.