Ke Huy Quan’s comeback to the acting stage and renaissance have been glorious to behold, with his Oscar-winning role in Everything Everywhere All At Once and Marvel stint in the Loki TV series. Now, he wants to be a badass action hero in his latest movie, Love Hurts. Does he succeed? Read on to find out.

Jackie Wick

The clear highlight of this movie is the fights. The choreography channels the physicality or rather, the physical slapstick comedy, of classic Jackie Chan but sprinkled with the vicious and bloody brutality of John Wick. That being said, the fights aren’t as bleakly serious as the ones in John Wick as they lean closer to being slightly more comedic. The fight scenes are fun to watch because not only can you feel the crunchy impact of every hit, the characters are all getting thrown around like ragdolls while using everything around them such as kitchen tools and living room objects to fight (which can result in some hilarious situations). It’s actually a pretty good effort for first-time director Jonathan Eusebio.

Ke Huy Quan is similar to Jackie Chan in a lot of ways. They’re both cheerful protagonists who are extremely likeable. Without him and his charm, this movie would have probably been a lot duller and boring, so he definitely carries the whole movie. The rest of the cast is just okay, with the exception of Sean Astin, who makes a mark despite only being in the movie for a couple of minutes (fun fact: both Ke Huy Quan and Sean Astin worked together in 1985’s The Goonies and this is their first time working together again after 40 years). The supporting cast is mostly disappointingly bland and based on familiar archetypes, including the characters played by Ariana Debose and Daniel Wu.

Unfortunately, the biggest flaw of the movie is that it’s too generic. The story is something we’ve seen countless times before; the same retired assassin or hitman who is forced out of retirement for any number of reasons. It’s an overused and oversaturated genre trope, especially after franchises like John Wick, The Equalizer and even anime series such as Sakamoto Days and Fable. The narrative and writing in Love Hurts are as conventional as they come so nothing in this movie will surprise you if you’re familiar with movies in the same genre.

Needs More Pain

Ultimately, Love Hurts is neither an unforgettable nor forgettable action comedy movie. Instead, it sort of stays in the middle. The one thing people will remember most from this movie is that Ke Huy Quan can be a badass too (and his great performance, of course).

FINAL SCORE: 70/100

We attended a press screening of Love Hurts courtesy of United International Pictures Malaysia. Love Hurts premieres in Malaysian cinemas on 6 February 2025.