It Sure Does

Love Hurts is Ke Huy Quan's first ever lead role. After decades out the game and struggling to keep his insurance prior to his Oscar winning turn in "Everything Everywhere, All At Once", you can hardly blame him for taking the chance to front a movie. Unfortunately, in Jonathan Eusabio's directorial debut, he has landed in a misfire.

Quan plays Marvin Gable, a cheery real estate agent living his best life as he crushes the sales game and keeps everyone in the office (except for his depressed assistant) happy with his home baking. Unbeknownst to his colleagues he used to be a gangland hitman for his mob boss brother "Knuckles" and when the mysterious Rose, who Marvin was supposed to have killed, remerges, big brother dispatches the goons to get some answers from him. Cue high jinks as Marvin battles henchmen kung fu style while trying to keep his current and past lives from colliding.

It's a fun idea but nothing quite comes together in the execution. The entertainment in a premise like this comes from the conflict of the main character having to beat up the bad guys without anyone knowing he is beating up the bad guys but that is only used once, when he throws down with hulking hitman come tortured poet Raven (Mustafa Shakir) near the beginning of the film. After that every action beat happens when either nobody else is around or everyone knows what is going on, undermining the entire point of the set up. The fights themselves are wacky and entertaining but not to the point they can carry the film, especially when they are so drawn out and, given the same people keep showing up, lacking in consequence.

The central duo of Quan and Ariana DeBose doesn't work as a romantic pairing. DeBose plays Rose as a calculating but potentially volatile wildcard who wants the "real" Marvin back. Given Marvin loves his new life and never liked being a killer it's hard to get on board with the idea there would be any attraction between them. A complete lack of on screen chemistry and distracting age difference don't help. The rest of the cast of characters is a mixed bag, with Mustafa Shakir the stand out as smooth voiced, reluctant killer Raven. Daniel Wu as big bad Knuckles is a bit wet and Sean Austin is underused as Marvin's real estate agent mentor. Marshawn Lynch and Andre Eriksen play an entertaining odd couple hit man team but, like the rest of the movie, the dynamic has been done many times before and much better.

At 83 minutes, Love hurts is too brief to be a chore and its lead is too charming for it to be grating but it is eminently, and perhaps mercifully, forgettable.

5 real estate agent of the year awards out of 10.

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