Love Hurts

Love Hurts
Starring Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Marshawn Lynch
Directed by Jonathan Eusebio

When I saw the "Love Hurts" trailer, it seemed like a mid movie at best - one of those easily forgotten action movies that will soon appear on streaming services (or, back in the day, TBS or TNT) with little to no fan-fair. It seemed to be a simple story with simple action and mid-par comedy, and to that end the movie, I guess, didn't disappoint. It muddied through its overly long runtime to possibly tell a story about facing your past and making your own future, but both themes seemed to really miss the mark, along with the typical action sequences and forced character connections.

Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) is a mild-mannered successful realtor who is always upbeat and positive, but underneath hides a monster - he was once a soulless hitman for his brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu), but one day when he was assigned to kill Rose (Arana DeBose), a lawyer who stole from Knuckles, Marvin couldn't do it and let her go, leaving his past behind and embracing his new persona.

Rose returns suddenly, and Knuckles - along with Renny (Cam Gigandet), another man Rose stole from - send assassins after her by targeting Marvin, believing he knows where Rose is. She and Marvin go on the run, hoping to clear the past and embrace a future free from fear.

Honestly, I don't know what was going on most of the time in "Love Hurts" apart from Marvin's groan-inducing humor and Rose's attempts to be badass. Maybe I missed why Rose suddenly returned, but it seemed to come out of the blue for no real reason. Then what follows is numerous action sequences that were alright, but far from anything we've come to expect from action movies nowadays.

Ke Huy Quan is a national treasure, and he tries to hold the movie together, and all around does an admirable job. He's sweet and funny, which is fine, but he's also a cold-hearted hitman underneath the facade, but he desperately wants to live this new life. Most of the film feels like a Jackie Chan American movie where the action choreography is more humorous than death-defying, and most of the film Marvin is afraid to let loose and let his past killer instinct come out, to the film's detriment. The best part of the movie was the ending, when Marvin really releases his inner rage, and Quan's action performance is nothing short of stellar - too bad it took so long to get there.

Ariana DeBose continues her downward spiral after her Oscar-winning win in "West Side Story" as Rose, a generic femme fatale with her own tagline ("hiding ain't living") and who really doesn't do a good job in the action role. There's also a possible romance between Rose and Marvin, but there's no romantic chemistry between the two, and their age difference really makes it feel weird.

It seems that, despite having three writers, there was no direction to the story, and it spread itself too thin. Marvin and Rose are on the run, but we also get stories about Marvin's brother, Renny, two hired assassins where one is struggling with his marriage, and a knife-wielding poet who falls for Marvin's assistant as he struggles with his job and newfound love. It's so much to pack in, and nothing really hits on any emotional level.

"Love Hurts" is the definition of a mid action movie, one of those you put on at home when you want to turn your mind off, or have background noise on when you're doing something else. It's not terrible per-say, but not great either.

The Score: C-