Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) is a seemingly mild-mannered Milwaukee realtor, who just won the Regional Realtor of the Year award—his proudest achievement. Marvin loves his job and his boss/mentor Cliff (Sean Astin), who gave him this new lease on life. He cares about his clients, genuinely wanting to help them find their dream homes. His assistant Ashley (Lio Tipton), on the other hand, is depressed, and is constantly on the verge of quitting. Today is Valentine’s Day, and Martin loves the unexpected nature of this day, when a person can come back into your life and change it for the better. And that’s just what’s going to happen to Marvin today!
Marvin has a dark past, working as an enforcer for his brother, crime lord Alvin ‘Knuckles’ Gable (Daniel Wu). But he was able to finally escape this life by agreeing to kill his partner/love, lawyer Rose Carlisle (Ariana DeBose), who had stolen money from Alvin. However, it turns out that Marvin didn’t actually kill Rose, and now she has returned, sending valentines to Alvin and Marvin letting them know that she’s back and looking for revenge. Marvin had managed to keep his past hidden, but now it is coming crashing back, and threatens to ruin the nice, quiet and peaceful new life he has built for himself. Also, seeing Rose again has rekindled the romantic feelings he once had for her. As Marvin tries to continue about his day, showing a new home to some prospective buyers, his open houses quickly erupt into warzones as he breaks out his old fighting skills to deal with the series of wisecracking hitmen trying to capture Rose, and reunite him with his brother.
Love Hurts is an entertaining action/comedy from 87North, the producers of The Fall Guy, Bullet Train. & Nobody. Stunt designer turned first time director Jonathan Eusebio (John Wick, Violent Night) brings viewers a film that blends big action/fight sequences with an underlying rom-com storyline, much like The Fall Guy did, but here it’s not just Marvin and Rose finding love, but other characters as well. The action and fight sequences are really well done, and quite entertaining. Ke Huy Quan, who performs most if not all of his own stunts, proves that he can be an action star. His fighting style is very reminiscent of Jackie Chan/Hong Kong cinema, mixing fast-paced kicks and punches with a lot of physical humor and props. The action sequences are quite inventive, from a one-on-one fight in a small office, to a kitchen brawl where anything and everything becomes a weapon, to a blow-out during an open house, and a big final battle. The action is creatively filmed, sometimes even giving viewers the POV from inside a fridge or a microwave. The fight sequences start off light and comical, but get a little darker and more gruesome as the film goes along, but never fully lose the humor element.
In addition to the action sequences, the film also mixes in elements of rom-com. At the core is this attraction between Rose and Marvin, though Rose doesn’t really want to admit to it. Ke Huy Quan makes a charming leading man, playing this lovestruck guy who gave up his violent past for the suburban dream life. During one fight sequence we see that Marvin is most concerned about protecting his framed Realtor of the Year certificate, as this is proof that his new life is valid. He’s just a happy guy who is now forced to confront his past, while also pursuing the love that got away. There is a bit of this will they/won’t they between Marvin and Rose. While she puts on a tough exterior, Rose still loves Marvin, even if she’s not ready to admit it. The film has so many fun and quirky characters that Marvin finds himself up against, including poetic hitman The Raven (Mustafa Shakir), bulky assassins/buddies King (Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch) & Otis (André Eriksen), toothless Kiwi Kiwi Libby (Rhys Darby), and Alvin’s ambitious second-in-command Renny Merlo (Cam Gigandet). There’s also a fun cameo by Property Brother Drew Scott as rival realtor/karate star Jeff Zaks. The rom-com nature of the film also extends to some of these side characters, such as romantic connection between the ever-depressed Ashley and poet assassin Raven, and this humorous bickering as King tries to help Otis with his relationship issues.
The film feels a bit like Bullet Train in how there are all these various parties hired by different people out to get Marvin. However, there are so many characters, but the backstory and motivation for some of these characters feels like it is missing. It also feels like the main revenge narrative for Rose skips a beat in the middle, missing some of the motivation and execution, and just jumping right to a conclusion reveal. The runtime of the movie is just 83 minutes. While the action sequences are excellent, well-choreographed and fast-paced, the underlying story probably could have benefitted from another 10-15 minutes to help flesh things out a bit more. There are some deleted scenes included on the disc, but these are mostly very short, throwaway moments that don’t add anything to the story.
Universal has released Love Hurts on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD & digital. We received the Blu-ray release for review, and it looks and sounds great. The picture is crisp and clean, with a solid level of detail during throughout, including some of the darker or fast-paced moments. Even with this just being the HD release, it still looked fantastic. Also quite impressive is the Atmos audio track, which really brings the fight sequences to life in a very immersive way. Dialogue is also clear throughout. Whether it’s the sound of darts and bullets whizzing by, or just the full sound of the film’s well-chosen needle drops, the aural experience is excellent.
The Blu-ray release includes a single disc, which resides in standard HD keepcase, along with a glossy carboard slipcover, and an insert containing a code to redeem for an HD Movies Anywhere-compatible digital copy of the film. The disc contains over 35 minutes of bonus material in addition to a writer/director commentary track. The other bonus material includes an alternate ending, 7 minutes of deleted/extended scenes, and about 20 minutes of behind-the-scenes featurettes.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:23:13)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / 16×9 2.00:1 Widescreen
- Audio: English Dolby Atmos, English DVS (Descriptive Video Service), Spanish 7.1 Dolby Digital, French 7.1 Dolby Digital Plus
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
- HD Digital Copy (Movies Anywhere compatible)
Digital (code may not be valid after 6/30/2026):
Extras:
Play All, or select from:
- Alternate Ending (1:54)
- Deleted and Extended Scenes (6:54)
Collection of 8 deleted/extended Scenes. Most of these are extremely short and just a single line, and don’t really add anything. Play All, or select from:- Lovers in the Park (:24)
Marvin sees two lovers sitting on a bench in the park. - Dog Poop (:36)
Marvin picks up the poop left on the lawn by the neighbor’s dog. - Last Client (:18)
Marvin walks a client out the door and gives him a thumbs-up. - Dead Roses (:43)
As Marvin hands out cookies at the office, he tells Ashley the stats on how many roses die each Valentine’s Day. - Extended Knuckles and Merlo (1:49)
Extended cut of Knuckles telling Merlo about hiring The Raven to go after Rose. - Kippy’s Teeth (:27)
Flashback to Marvin knocking Kippy’s teeth out with his hand. - Extended Otis and King (1:27)
Extended cut of Otis and King arguing over beating up the wrong “Kippy” in the alley. - Extended Raven and Ash< (1:13)
Extended cut of Raven reading poetry to Ashley./li>
- Lovers in the Park (:24)
- The Ke to Gable (3:33)
The cast and crew talk about choreographing the stunt sequences, the Hong Kong action movie fighting style, having the actors do their own stunts, the training process, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes, training, and stunt vis footage, and interviews with star Ke Huy Quan (“Marvin Gable”) and fight coordinator Cha-Lee Yoon, second unit director/stunt designer & coordinator Can Aydin. - The Heart of Love Hurts (7:34)
The cast and crew talk about creating a different, more emotional action star, the cast and characters, the chemistry on set, and more. Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director Jonathan “JoJo” Eusebio, producers Kelly McCormick & David Leitch, and stars Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose (“Rose Carlisle”), Rhys Darby (“Kippy Betts”), Lio Tipton (“Ashley”), Mustafa Shakir (“Raven”), Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch (“King”), André Eriksen (“Otis”) & Daniel Wu (“Alvin ‘Knuckles’ Gable”). - Stunts Hurt (10:37)
The cast and crew go through four of the major fight sequences in the film, discussing their purpose, the complex choreography, and more. Marshawn Lynch is hilarious in this! Includes behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with director Jonathan “JoJo” Eusebio, fight coordinator Cha-Lee Yoon, producer David Leitch, second unit director/stunt designer & coordinator Can Aydin, and stars Ke Huy Quan, Mustafa Shakir, Marshawn “Beastmode” Lynch, André Eriksen, Lio Tipton & Daniel Wu.
Final Thoughts:
Love Hurts is another fun action/comedy from the folks at 87North. Ke Huy Quan proves himself to be both a charming rom-com lead as well as an action star. The film’s action and fight sequences are amazing, but the underlying story seems to be missing something. The film only clocks in at 83 minutes, there was plenty of time to flesh some of this out. That said, the film is still quite entertaining and worth a look. Universal’s Blu-ray release looks and sounds great and includes a small but entertaining assortment of bonus material.
