Love Hurts may be a romantic comedy, but with all the action and violence, it may be hard to see who is in love with who for most of the film. Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Loki) is an amiable and successful realtor when he is first introduced – that is until while in his office he has a visitor from his past, The Raven (Mustafa Shakir). The Raven is on an assignment from the boss, Alvin “Knuckles” Gable (Daniel Wu), to find Marvin who should be the key to locate a former employee, Rose Carlisle (Ariana DeBose, West Side Story, Kraven the Hunter, Argylle) and some missing money. Rose is a lawyer who knows too much. Marvin’s peaceful and successful life is shattered, but he is not going down peacefully. Marvin has some skills that Alvin had exploited, and he suddenly remembers them when push comes to shove. I am very glad to see DeBose have multiple opportunities to star in several films since the musical, even if those scripts don’t match or reach award winning levels. She gives it her best for each character she portrays according to the script.
Acclaimed veteran stunt coordinator and fight coordinator JoJo Eusebio makes his feature film directing debut on Love Hurts. Eusebio served as the second-unit director on Deadpool 2, Violent Night and Birds of Prey. He also has to his credit work on several action films: Black Panther, The Avengers, the John Wick films, The Matrix Resurrections, Violent Night, The Fall Guy and Deadpool 2. Eusebio directed the script written by Matthew Murray (Sheltered, CloudStreet: Soaring the American West) & Josh Stoddard (Warrior, Kaleidoscope) and Luke Passmore (Archenemy, Slaughterhouse Rulez).
Marvin has an assistant at the real estate office, Ashley (Lio Tipton), who appears to hate her job and plans to quit. At first, someone may think there is something between these two, but Ashley has other ideas. She ends up trying to close her own deal before long, even if Marvin is trying to close a different deal amid unexpected visitors arriving. Otis (André Eriksen) and King (Marshawn Lynch) are also on Alvin’s payroll to find Marvin and Rose. These buddy bad boys do have some funny scenes together. Rose has found Kippy Betts (Rhys Darby, Pirate Radio) before Alvin and by far, his scenes are fun and entertaining comedy. Knuckles has another of his thugs, Remy (Cam Gigandet), on the hunt for Rose and Marvin. Hopefully the audience can keep up with the multiple contract killers and not get so confused. For sure, fans of this type of crime boss/thugs/missing money action and violence will enjoy the scenes.
Marvin’s real estate boss, Cliff Cussick (Sean Astin, The Goonies) mentored Marvin in the industry, and they have a special bond over the years. Alvin does not like what he hears from Cliff and their work together. Alvin makes sure the bond with Marvin is terminated. Alvin does not mind getting his hands dirty, or dirtier than they already are.
All performances are good, the music is a great aspect of the production and is a good matinee choice.
The executive producer is Ben Ormand. Guy Danella (Violent Night) is a producer. The film has an 83-minute runtime and opens in some theaters February 6 and nationwide February 7th.
Source: Universal Pictures
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