After spending many years away from Hollywood, 80s child actor Ke Huy Quan came back with a vengeance three decades later, starring in MCU’s highly-rated Loki, and claiming an Oscar for his role in the phenomenal Everything Everywhere All at Once. However, his 2025 Valentine’s-weekend action comedy, Love Hurts, proved to be a divisive flop when it was battered into submission with a $17.5 million worldwide box office that didn’t cover its $18 million budget. However, the R-rated bruiser has now come back fighting to give Quan the last laugh.
Whether it is through curiosity, Quan, or the simple fact that action movies are one of the most popular genres on streaming, the film is now topping the Prime Video chart in the U.S., defying the low 18% Tomatometer score the film was gifted by critics on its release. With a short runtime of 83-minutes, the movie is also a quick-watch, which can work wonders for those pressed for time. The film has clearly now attracted a new audience it couldn’t in cinemas. The synopsis of the movie reads:
“Ke Huy Quan stars as Marvin Gable, a realtor working the Milwaukee suburbs, where ‘For Sale’ signs bloom. Gable receives a crimson envelope from Rose (Oscar® winner Ariana DeBose; West Side Story, Argylle), a former partner-in-crime that he had left for dead. She’s not happy. Now, Marvin is thrust back into a world of ruthless hitmen, filled with double-crosses and open houses turned into deadly warzones. With his brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu; Tomb Raider, Warcraft), a volatile crime lord, hunting him, Marvin must confront the choices that haunt him and the history he never truly buried.”
‘Love Hurts’…and So Do Bad Critical Reviews
Love Hurts seemed to have plenty of good things going for it, with Quan starring alongside Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, and Sean Astin, but it discovered that the late-winter box office can give a frosty reception, one that is not helped when critics find very little positive to say about a movie.
The 18% score is backed up with comments such as “could be one of the worst movies we’ve seen in a long while” (Bloody Awesome Movie Podcast) and notes that Quan and DeBose “have no chemistry together” (Wall Street Journal). Or as Decider succinctly put it, “Ow.”
However, once audiences finally started to watch the film – mostly after it arrived on VOD and streaming – many called it a “fun” movie, and that is reflected in the much better – if still a long way from great – score of 61%. While it still gained plenty of criticism (as you would expect from that score), many were willing to look past the faults and just go along for the ride with the “enjoyable action movie for people who don’t care if it’s not taken seriously.” Almost like an action comedy.
Considering many movies, even those with thinner plots than Love Hurts, usually come with an extended runtime that really needs audiences to take a chunk of time out of their day, this one bucks that trend and makes it worth checking out as a quick timewaster.
- Release Date
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February 7, 2025
- Runtime
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83 minutes
- Director
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Jonathan Eusebio
- Writers
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Luke Passmore, Josh Stoddard, Matthew Murray