Love Hurts

Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) is the optimistic and hard-working realtor you want when you are looking to buy a house. He also has a dark past that has just caught up to him.

While on his morning routine of showing homes to prospective buyers and working the office, Marvin is attacked by not one but three hitmen. They have been ordered by his crime boss brother ‘Knuckles’ (Daniel Wu), to force him to give up the whereabouts of Rose (Ariana DeBose), a girl that everyone but Marvin thought was dead.

Rose decided today is the day to announce that she is alive and enlists Marvin to get her old life back. Marvin is now faced with reverting back into the ‘ultimate killer’ he once was, or sell this lovely split-level house in the suburbs with lots of space for a family. Not an easy choice for this year’s ‘Realtor of the Year’.

“Love Hurts” is a comedy/action movie that banks on Ke Huy Quan’s lighthearted performance of the reluctant hero who must draw on some rusty martial art skills in order to save both their lives. Rose’s sudden appearance is making this a Valentine’s Day he will never forget.

Objectionable Content

LANGUAGE: Extreme. God’s name is used blasphemously 6 times. Obscene language includes: F*** (50+), other F-words (11), S**t (7+), A** (5), and A**-**** (1). Vulgar language includes: Bast**d (1), B**ch (1) and D**n (1), H*ll (3) and Freaks (1). With a run-time of only 83 minutes the pauses in bad language are as infrequent as the breaks in action.

VIOLENCE: Extreme. Bloody and some gory. The violence inflicted on the men sent to capture Marvin include knives through heads, slit throats, and one particularly gruesome bullet through the head as you see right through the bloody, gaping hole. Many others are cut up by various blades, mostly wielded by the current chief assassin named Raven (Mustafa Shakir).

Additionally, a glass straw is shoved through one poor victim’s eye, a knife impales someone’s hand to a desk, a finger is seen having been cut off and duct-tape is ripped off another’s mouth peeling off his teeth/caps in the process. Need I say more.

SEX/NUDITY: Average. Rose is shown in bed wearing her bra. There are two instances at a strip club with girls wearing only lingerie performing seductively on a pole. Some kissing is seen.

WOKE CONTENT: None.

ALCOHOL: Moderate. Alcohol is served at the strip club where Rose bartends, the hitmen Otis and King (Marshawn ‘Beastmode’ Lynch) share a beer and later Marvin’s boss is handed a drink.

Lessons

Two biblical themes worth reflecting on, from an otherwise unremarkable movie, are redemption and love.

REDEMPTION. Knuckles refers to missing the ‘beautiful monster’ he had once called his brother. In a quiet moment, the reformed Marvin tells his realty company boss Cliff (Sean Astin), “You changed my life,” to which Cliff humbly replies, “You can’t change a man who doesn’t want to be changed.”

The reality is, owning up to the sin of our former lives and trusting in the God who saves us, is our only hope for true, saving change.

That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. —Ephesians 4:22-24

LOVE. Releasing in time for Valentines Day, “Love Hurts” features three couples wrestling with different aspects of love. First, here is the hitman Otis (André Eriksen) who is estranged from his wife, yet keeps calling and seeking her forgiveness. Second, there is Marvin’s assistant Ashley (Lio Tipton) who finds a dark but kindred soul in the blade wielding killer, Raven. Ashley wants him to work with Marvin and encourages them to talk and not kill each other.

Finally, there is Marvin who years ago was commanded to kill Rose, but because he secretly loved her, decided to release her and lied to his own brother about it. That is when Marvin gave up killing and went on to build a whole new life.

These acts of forgiveness, forgetting the past, seeking to protect a loved one, they all touch upon the ideal love that God wants for us and is much better described throughout Holy Scripture including here:

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” —1 Cor. 13:4-7

Closing Thoughts

“Love Hurts,” while occasionally humorous, makes poor use of its two Oscar® winning leads, Ke Huy Quan and Ariana DeBose. Marvin is sweet and charming enough, but his ultimate return to his old self is jarring and not in character. Likewise, Rose, as she is presented in the first half, was a different person as her past becomes revealed. By film’s end they both win, but are hardly redeemed.

Regrettably, the chemistry between the leads, Marvin and Rose, seems forced and unearned. Ironic, especially considering that the only plausible romance shown is the one that Ashley finds with her new killer boyfriend, Raven.

“Love Hurts” comes across as an amateur film project, needlessly violent, and poorly written that serves only as an example on how not to do a film.

• Violence: Extreme
• Vulgar/Crude language: Extreme
• Profane language: Moderate
• Nudity: Mild
• Sex: Minor
• Drugs/Alcohol: Mild
• Occult: None
• Wokeism: None

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