By Kai Curry
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
“What I love about Valentine’s Day,” says Marvin Gable, played by Ke Huy Quan, in his new movie, ‘Love Hurts,’ “is that everyone is expecting something unexpected to happen.”
This “something unexpected” includes meeting a future someone, patching it up with a present someone, or the return of a past someone. All of this comes to pass in this Valentine’s Day-themed action movie.
Marvin wants to be a pleasant, perhaps oppressively cheerful, real estate agent. But an office visit by hitman Raven (played by Mistafa Shakir) makes clear that Marvin just might be the exact opposite of that. The supposedly mild-mannered Marvin all too adeptly knocks out Raven.
As Marvin’s love interest says of Marvin’s new, black-framed glasses—and, cheekily, to the audience—it’s all “very Clark Kent.”
In short, Marvin is not who he seems.
As the movie goes on to reveal, it appears that someone named “Knuckles” wants Marvin to tell him where “Rose” is.
Who’s Rose, you ask? Could it be the femme fatale, played by Ariana DeBose, who is leaving moustaches on Marvin’s bench advertising all over town? And who’s Knuckles? Could it be the actually mustachioed crime boss with a dangerous addition to boba, played by Daniel Wu?
Well … yes, it’s both of those.
At first, I thought this movie was trying too hard to make Quan into Jackie Chan. The initial action scenes—with the requisite destruction of pristine homes for sale and therefore Marvin’s life—were replete with the agile, acrobatic, comedic fights common to Chan’s movies. Quan can pull it off but I was happy to find that as “Love Hurts” progressed, he developed his own style, no more a Jackie Chan lookalike, in the same way that his character finds a way back to who he really is.
This image released by Universal Pictures shows Rhys Darby, left, and Ke Huy Quan in a scene from “Love Hurts.” (Allen Fraser/Universal Pictures via AP)
Marvin sought out the real estate agent life to be “normal.” He wanted to leave a life of violence behind. I was behind that. It was annoying to me that Rose kept pressing for the old Marvin to come back. Let him live his dream, Rose! But what we discover in this very well-rounded movie is that Marvin can have both: a new life and his awesome self.
Quan easily carries this movie. Fresh from placing his hand and foot in plaster next to the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, Quan is an exciting, believable, competent leading man. He’s a little goofy, yes, but that’s part of his appeal (Rose apparently likes it). He plays the complexity of the character with panache, and is equally satisfying to watch in the funny scenes as in the fight scenes (or when both are put together). Even if it was a touch cliché, it was delightful to watch him run around trying to score a sale and also defend himself against the bad guys.
Take off those glasses, Kent!
The movie makes some sly moves, but it’s not exactly secretive. We know that something is going on by how hard Marvin is trying to infuse optimism into his surroundings. He wears Buddhist prayer beads on his wrist, has an amethyst crystal on his mantlepiece, and a painting above the mantelpiece that almost suggests a path into the future … except it’s a winter scene.
In order to move forward, you’ve got to confront the past, Rose insists.
And it’s the same with love, this surprisingly tender action movie says. If you’ve made a mistake, confess it. If you have taken an interest in someone you just met, say so. If you love your old flame, tell them.
This may be the bloodiest and yet most dedicated Valentine’s movie I have ever seen. It is nothing if not committed to the theme in the same way it asks everyone in the cast to commit to love, and simultaneously pokes fun at the candy-and hearts-filled day.
For example, one of the hitmen has had a feud with his wife. This turns into a running subplot, as he agonizes over how to get her back. His maneuvers include stopping to get an $8.99 stuffed bear and giving her a call right before he barges into yet another new home, guns a-blazing. Throughout the film, he munches on the quintessential Valentine’s Day heart candies.
And then there’s the catchphrase.
If they had said “Happy Valentine’s Day” just once, I would have thought, Meh, lame. Instead, they say it over and over and instead of it getting old, it gets more and more hilarious.
Even sincere nuggets of truth are surrounded in heart-warming jest.
Brotherly love, which also makes an appearance in this film, presents as Brotherly Love Version A—brotherly love lost—and Brotherly Love Version B, which is when you choose a “brother from another mother.”
“I believe in second chances. I believe in absolution,” says the beatific Samwise Gamgee—I mean Sean Astin, who plays Marvin’s boss-turned-chosen brother.
There’s surprise love from a coworker willing to risk his life for you—“love thy neighbor.”
There’s love for the person you might be afraid to show to others, as develops not only between Rose and Marvin but also between one of the hitmen, and a surprise object of affection.
“I love my job!” exclaims Marvin. But what he really loves is the chance to start fresh.
In “Love Hurts,” everyone is asked to put themselves and their hearts on the line to find a reason to live and love. Love can hurt, this movie says—and it can also redeem. With the right person, love can let you be your true self.
Kai can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.