Valentine’s Day movies don’t have to be rom-coms or even romantic. There are many kinds of Valentine’s Day movies so as a critic I prefer the ones that are not typical. That’s why the movie with Ke Huy Quan is one of the best Valentine’s Day’s movies I’ve seen in a long time. That isn’t to say it’s a great movie, it’s just better than the typical romantic movies that we often see around this time. But I tend to think martial arts action comedy movies with a little bit of romance are always going to be better than the typical Valentine’s Day rom-com or Hallmark like movie where everybody finds love in the end. What if you have to fight your way back to love through hundreds of bad guys… doesn’t that sound fun!!!
What can I say about Love Hurts… it’s stupidly fun, but it isn’t going to win any awards. It might win a “Razzie,” but it’s not supposed to be an Oscar-worthy film, just a fun action comedy that will keep you entertained for 90 minutes. As a fellow critic pointed out, it says if Roger Corman had made the movie… that’s not an insult at all, just a different style of filmmaking. The story is about a former hitman working for his mob brother and decides not to kill the woman he fell in love with so therefore they both disappear. The character of Marvin played by Ke Huy Quan becomes a top-selling real estate agent until the woman he was supposed to kill decides to come back into his life and go after the men that wanted her dead so she could have her life back and not live in hiding anymore.
That’s when Marvin is pulled back into the life and has to defend himself against ruthless killers trying to put him down. Of course, we have seen this plot before, but if you’re a fan of martial arts action movies then the plot is not as important as the action itself and that is this film’s strong suit. Just like Jackie Chan movies or Jet Li movies, the martial arts action sequences are always better than the story itself. And if you think Ke Huy Quan is not in the same league as the two legends I mentioned before, when his acting career declined after being a child star, he became a stunt coordinator. In fact he was the stunt coordinator on the first X-Men movie with Hugh Jackman…. isn’t that a fun movie fact! He definitely has the skills to be a great action star and it is very much showcased in this movie. The fight choreography is amazing and there’s a lot of humor to it that makes this a fun movie to watch even if the plot is largely forgettable.
I’m not saying this is a bad movie. It’s a very entertaining movie. But it’s a martial arts action movie and that’s all it’s meant to be. What works is the action with a lot of good comedy and a fun cast. Having Sean Astin in the movie and bringing a bit of a Goonies reunion was awesome. But unfortunately here’s what makes the movie not that great. It’s a recycled plot line. A former hitman goes into hiding until they bring him back out and he has to deal with his pass by killing all the bad guys. Yeah that’s been played out as a story. That plot line was pretty much used for the RED movies with Bruce Willis. But like any great action movie, the plot is not necessarily important as long as you get great action scenes. And that’s the one thing that Love Hurts truly accomplishes. Throw in a very cynical girl who hates Valentine’s Day but ends up finding love on Valentine’s Day with a poet assassin and then you got yourself a winner. It’s just like a Hallmark movie except a lot of people are going to die, but still better than a Hallmark movie! This is not the best Ke Huy Quan movie. It’s not an Oscar worthy performance like in Everything Everywhere All at Once, but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes actors just make fun movies. So at the end of the day even though the plot is kind of silly and you may feel like that you’ve watched this movie before, you’re going to get a lot of great action mixed in with some good comedy and those two things are a great combination when it comes to making fun movies. Love Hurts is a fun movie that’s not trying to be anything else and that’s why it’s worth watching. Maybe it’s not worth the price of a movie ticket but it’s worth the price of movie rental when you just want to stay in and relax.
