Love Hurts Review: Gut-Punching Fun

Successful real estate agent Marvin Gable is hiding a big secret—he’s an ex-assassin. Leaving his mobster brother behind after setting free a traitorous lawyer, Gable’s life seems to be going well. That’s until Rose resurfaces from the dead, sending Valentine’s Day cards to all those who wronged her in one last chance to get her life back. Will Marvin stay in his new life or plunge back into the world of fighting one last time?

Check out our Love Hurts review below, and remember spoilers ahead!

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Love Hurts Review – Breaking Down Plot, Setting, Characters

Plot

Marvin Gable is a successful real estate agent, selling houses with a cheery smile and winning Regional Agent of the Year with boss Cliff Cussick by his side. Right around Valentine’s Day, Marvin receives a card from Rose, a young lawyer he set free in another life as a former assassin. Thrust back into his past life, the Raven, Otis, and King are all after Marvin to figure out where Rose is, even if Marvin doesn’t know where she is.

Rose meets up with Marvin, and the two must figure out what to do. Rose wants her life back after being nearly killed by Marvin’s brother’s orders, but all Marvin wants is to go back to selling houses. With other assassins on his tail, Marvin is forced to go with Rose to one of his properties to hide out.

The next day, a couple comes to visit the house, but so do the assassins, pulling Marvin’s two lives together in a disastrous situation, one that ends in him following Rose to his brother’s hangout. In a huge fight scene, the two manage to take down his brother, Knuckles, and his crew, retrieving the money thought to be stolen by Rose and rekindling their love together.

I enjoyed the plot, with fast-paced action scenes and high stakes. If you enjoy lots of gore, Love Hurts provides, with straws in eyeballs, knives in arms, and teeth pulled out with duct tape. While this film centers around Valentine’s Day, some of the love interests seemed a little forced or lacked chemistry. Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose killed their action scenes, but at some points, the chemistry between them fell flat.

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Setting

The setting mainly centers around Marvin’s office, the houses he is showing off, and Knuckles’ hangout, The Company. Each setting relates to Marvin’s past and present clashing together, often with assassins coming after him in his new life. One piece of the setting that followed Marvin throughout was an amethyst crystal, one that Rose had given him years prior, which was a nice touch.

I think the settings worked well, showing Marvin’s everyday life and how that vastly contrasted with his past. For instance, The Company is a boba shop with red/dark lighting and lots of shadows, while the houses Marvin shows off are bright and spacious. These are complete opposites yet portray Marvin completely, with both his dark and light parts on display.

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Characters

While some of the chemistry fell flat, I really enjoyed the cast of characters in Love Hurts. Quan as Marvin Gable was like another version of Jackie Chan, delivering punches and funny lines all in the same breath. This film shows he can be an action hero, just like he did so many years ago with the Temple of Doom and The Goonies. His costar DeBose also shined as Rose, creating a character that stood down to no one but still had soft spots for Marvin after years of being apart.

The comedic punch was centered around King, Otis, and the Raven, all portraying different types of assassins who cannot seem to capture Marvin. King and Otis are especially funny, getting thrown around by a much smaller competitor and having their own tiffs throughout the film.

The main thing that struggled for the characters was the romance. While there was romance between several couples (Marvin and Rose, Raven and Ashley, Otis and his wife, etc.), none of them were gut-punching with their love. Perhaps this was supposed to be lesser than the action/comedy parts, but I would have liked to see a little more chemistry.

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Prominent Actors in Love Hurts

While Ke Huy Quan may be the star in Love Hurts, several other talented actors appear. Check out some of the prominent actors and actresses in the film, along with other productions they been in.

• Ke Huy Quan (Marvin Gable) –The Goonies, Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, Loki
• Ariana DeBose (Rose) – Kraven the Hunter, West Side Story, Hamilton
• Daniel Wu (Knuckles Gable) – Tomb Raider, American-Born Chinese, Shinjuku Incident
• Marshawn Lynch (King) – Bottoms, 80 for Brady, Matt’s Chance
• Sean Astin (Cliff Cussick) – The Goonies, Rudy, Toy Soldiers

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Final Thoughts

Overall, I had a fun time watching this movie. It was filled with twists, action, and the theme of love, all centered around a former assassin and the woman he let go free. While it was lacking some in the romance, the action was full of gore and laughs, keeping me entertained the whole time. Ke Huy Quan continues to prove that he is a prominent actor in this industry, playing characters across genres and meeting up once again with his Goonies co-star Sean Astin. As a huge Goonies fan myself, I had a lot of nostalgia too watching this, making for an enjoyable hour and a half.