Love Hurts (2025) is directed by Jonathan Eusebio and features a script from Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore. It stars Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Marshawn Lynch, Cam Gigandet, Sean Astin, Andre Eriksen, Rhys Darby, and Drew Scott. Taking place on Valentine’s Day, the film follows Marvin Gable (Quan), a mild-mannered real estate agent whose seemingly idyllic life is turned upside down after the return of his former flame, Rose Carlisle (DeBose). This threatens to expose Marvin’s violent past and upend the life he worked so hard to build, but it also ushers the arrival of Marvin’s crime boss brother, Knuckles (Wu), who seeks revenge on Rose for a previous double-cross. In an attempt to protect Rose from his brother’s various assassins, Marvin readopts his skills as a high-level hitman. Along the way, he’s forced to accept that his dark past may never go away, but that doesn’t mean he’s not deserving of true love.

Quan as this type of physically unimposing action hero would have been an exciting and subversive casting 5 years ago, but after films such as Nobody (2021), The Beekeeper (2024), or even The Equalizer 1, 2, and 3, it actually feels somewhat creatively stale. That being said, Quan once again proves to be an uncommonly heartwarming presence and ends up being the film’s best element. The forgettable romantic action-comedy script does him no favors, but his earnestness kind of fits the cheesy material. 

Ariana DeBose’s manic performance works on paper, but the character is simply way too over-the-top and ultimately feels like a cartoon. She’s not written to be a very unique or complex character and essentially feels like nothing more than a weak satire of typical love interests. Although written to be pretty basic, the romance elements fall flat because it never actually feels like the two sides exist in the same reality.

This tonal inconsistency also extends to the film’s treatment of action/violence. The director never really knows whether he wants to give the characters (including the villains) a big hug or unapologetically put a bullet in their heads. I suppose one could argue that this keeps the viewer on their toes, but I think the sweet tone only undermines the hard-hitting action/violence and vice versa. I also didn’t particularly like that the film’s most moral and likable characters are given the most brutally mean deaths. This would feel justified if it worked to make us further despise the villains, but it just doesn’t. The script isn’t fully formed, and it’s clear that the writers either aren’t very perceptive or, at the very least, weren’t given enough time to flesh things out. This becomes obvious when the script implements elements such as lazy voiceovers that tell the viewer precisely what the characters are thinking/feeling. They aren’t complex people, so it shouldn’t be that hard to SHOW us who they are. 

The film doesn’t have high aspirations, but this often works in its favor. It’s silly, and it knows it. Its unapologetic commitment to classic Valentine’s Day themes ultimately keeps this from being a forgettable experience. The script is dumb as rocks and even features a moment where former NFL star Marshawn Lynch spear-tackles someone while yelling his real-life catchphrase “Beast Mode,” but I’d be lying if I said it didn’t make me crack a smile. 

Overall, this is a primarily forgettable romantic action-comedy that still holds some cult-classic potential due to its numerous, despite somewhat surface-level, thematic connections to Valentine’s Day. It’s not a movie I’d recommend, but it’s also not a movie I’d stop someone from checking out. I think this is because, despite all the silliness, Quan feels like a fresh leading presence in Hollywood. Shame on the industry for letting him fall into obscurity for so long. If a performer is as good as Quan was as a child, it only makes sense for the person to get at least one shot at playing a different kind of character. As successful as he was in his youth, he never got that shot until recently. Better late than never, I suppose. I can’t wait to see what he does next, I just hope that movie has a better script. C+