Film Review: Love Hurts

 

Sexuality/Nudity Mature

Violence Mature

Vulgarity Mature

Anti-Catholic Philosophy Mature

Your enjoyment of this movie will depend deeply on how charming you find Ke Huy Kwan.

And I found him incredibly charming.

Love Hurts is an action/comedy about Marvin Gabel (Kwan) who appears to be a mild-mannered real estate agent.  But he is actually a John Wick-style enforcer who worked for his mob-boss brother Alvin "Knuckles" Gabel (Daniel Wu).  He has left the life after faking the death of his last mark: mob accountant Rose (Arianna DeBose).  Marvin seems to truly enjoy this simple life, but things comes crashing down when Rose lets Marvin and Knuckles that she is still alive, forcing him into a confrontation with his brother that will end her need to hide.  The movie is essentially the struggle for Marvin between the life he loves or the woman he loves.

As I said, Kwan is fantastic.  He channels Jackie Chan in the best possible sense.  Chan played the genial nice-guy who held within him incredibly violent power.  That same quality comes out in Kwan in a fantastic way.  Watching the movie, you immediately like the guy and you desperately want him to come out on top.  His escalating panic also shows off his comedic chops.  His performance fits perfectly in both the action and the comedy of this film.

The action set pieces are fun and creative.  Again Kwan is incredibly reminiscent of Chan, who would take a severe beating in each of his movies, showing that he wasn't a stoic superman.  Instead, Marvin gets beaten up badly, but has to fight tooth-and-nail to get through with all of his strength and creativity.  

Director Jonathon Eusebio has spent much of his career as a fight coordinator and you can see him lean into those skills heavily and effectively in this movie.  And clocking in at less than 90 minutes, the movie moves along at a very pleasant pace so that it never slows down too much and you always feel like the story is going forward.  

The movie does have a few downsides.  The first is that the writing is a bit thin.  It often ignores the maxim of "show, don't tell."  Kwan and Rose secretly love each other.  We know this not because of their onscreen chemistry (of which there is very little).  We know it beause the script gives us voice-overs to tell us what each of them are thinking as a shortcut.  In another instance, Marvin's boss Cliff (Sean Astin) has a conversation with Knuckles about how Marvin is like a brother to him.  Cliff talks about having Marvin over to Thanksgiving and going on trips together.  This is all fine, but this is the only way we get a sense of their closeness.  We don't see that in any of the previous scenes.

This thinness in the writing makes the tonal shifts between action and comedy sometimes a little difficult.  The movie is just a little too violent, where innocent people are killed for laughs and we are supposed to be emotionally invested in the killers and their personal romantic relationships.  

When I was younger, I thought the movie Grosse Point Blank handled this type of material a lot better.  But perhaps that isn't the case.  Maybe I'm just older and I don't find comedies as enjoyable when I'm supposed to root for murderers.

The performances are fine, but I think that they do the best they can with the script they are given.  

Thematically, I'm a bit torn.  Marvin did horrible things when he worked for his brother.  His desire to leave that life is admirable, but the question is whether he is making proper atonement.  John Wick deals with this by acknowledging that John  does not hope for salvation and he fears hell.  But I'm not sure Marvin has earned his redemption.  It is a little like Emilia Perez, where the main character was a horrible murderer, but thought getting a new identity took away the guilt.  

The only thing that mitigates this is a speech by Cliff when he finds out about Marvin's old life.  Cliff says that he believes in absolution and second chances.  It implies that Marvin is seeking forgiveness.  If the script had pushed this idea a little more, it would have been more satisfying.

But if you are looking for a a decent action/comedy with a charming lead, then I think you will enjoy Love Hurts.