Winning an Oscar is the biggest accolade someone can get when working in the film industry. There is almost an entitlement that your career is going to skyrocket. However, Ke Huy Quan has been less fortunate. Since his comeback performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once which saw him win Best Supporting Actor, he has only had one role, that being a supporting part in Kung Fu Panda 4. However, with Love Hurts, Ke Huy Quan leads his first film as an Oscar winner.
The film opens with Quan who plays Marvin, the estate agent equivalent of Ted Lasso. He bakes love heart cookies whilst talking about his love of Valentine’s Day. Cycling through Milwaukee on his commute to work with a permanent smile, a cheerful community man, whose face is plastered over benches and billboards advertising his agency. However, during an office party, Marvin receives a card saying “I’m back” before being thrust back into a dark and dangerous past where he was a hitman and head dirty man for his brother. But can Marvin escape his past and return to his utopic lifestyle as an estate agent?
Unfortunately, I couldn’t really care less, as Love Hurts is an exhaustingly generic plot with dreadful execution. It’s a film that once the narrative cogs start turning it’s hard to get into. It’s unclear who is who at times, what is happening and why it is, with the characters' backstories completely underwritten. The dialogue is atrocious at times, with weird voiceover moments spelling out the character’s thoughts, feelings and next moves.
However, there are a couple of bright spots. Quan is delivering the same charming and likeable energy he has in Everything Everywhere All At Once. He is the key factor keeping you from completely disengaging. Likewise, the action set pieces aren’t too bad. They are compelling and exciting, though the situations in which the action arrives are poorly written. So unfortunately whilst there are a few ok elements, there are far too many poorly developed or executed components to recommend this to anyone. I would have rather just seen a film about Quan as an estate agent.
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