Love Hurts (2025), directed by Jonathan Eusebio and written by Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore, is fun, but it has one huge, Rose (Ariana DeBose)-sized pain point. No matter how clearly talented DeBose is, her character is simply out of place in this convoluted but generally charming movie. She cannot match the charm of her co-star Ke Huy Quan, the comedic timing of Marshawn Lynch, or the screen presence of Mustafa Shakir or Sean Astin. Every scene is over-acted, and the age gap between her and Kwan is unsettling

Ultimately, Rose feels like she’s been unfairly placed into the wrong movie. Love Hurts (2025) is about Melvin (Quan), a former enforcer for his brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu). Melvin left the game and became a normal, incredibly kind, and passionate realtor after pretending to kill Rose on behalf of her brother. But Rose has returned, Knuckles is outraged that she isn’t dead, and Melvin is forced back into his murderous ways to protect Rose, himself, and the way of life he’s come to cherish.

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Quan puts on a clinic throughout the whole movie. He’s not only funny and charming while doing excellent stunt work, but he also flips a switch and shows another side of his acting chops. At different points in the movie, he plays fully in and against type to near equal effect. Fun and lighthearted Quan is certainly superior, and it bodes well for the continuation of his storied career that he has more than just one trick up his sleeve.

Ke Huy Quan and the supporting cast bring the fun to Love Hurts (2025).

Quan is also surrounded by fun characters. Astin is Melvin’s surprisingly sincere boss, Cliff, who gives one particularly stirring monologue. Shakir does some solid fight choreography as the hired gun Raven while bouncing the best reminder that this is a Valentine’s Day movie off of Melvin’s assistant Ashley (Lio Tipton). And Lynch continues to be a fun screen presence as King, one of Knuckles’ henchmen.

These characters and the others around them fit together. Love Hurts (2025) has a level of sincerity that keeps it from being a slapstick action movie, but it also has enough humor to avoid being totally deadpan. Then Rose comes in and completely disrupts the tone of the entire movie. Her performance has supreme “theater kid” energy at all times. Huge facial expressions, dynamic vocal performances, and a ton of physicality separate her from the rest and make her distracting.

Her role in the plot doesn’t help either. Melvin’s entire reason for being in Love Hurts (2025) is that he’s trying to be the person he was always meant to be before his brother turned him into a monster. He wants to be kind and live a quiet life. Rose is having none of that and is hellbent on turning him back into a killing machine to fulfill her own selfish goals. The movie is supposed to have a romantic bent to it. It takes place on Valentine’s Day, and a running narration given by both Melvin and Rose makes it clear that Melvin is motivated to help Rose primarily because he is in love with her.

Except there is nothing in either performance or character that indicates they are in love other than the voiceover narration. They have no chemistry whatsoever, probably in part because they are nearly 20 years apart in age and have seemingly nothing in common as human beings. Chemistry must be earned, not dictated. If these characters had a different kind of relationship that was more familial instead of romantic, some of the problems may have gone away. But the whole movie is built around Valentine’s Day and romantic love, so there is really no changing this discomfort without either changing the actors or changing how these characters are presented. Her dissonance as a character ultimately leads to a deeply unsatisfying ending.

If you take Rose out of the equation, Love Hurts (2025) is a fun movie.

The one good thing about Rose is that she’s allowed far more action than a lesser movie would typically give to an actress who isn’t highly trained in stage combat. The camera does a lot of uncomfortable things in Love Hurts (2025) in the name of attempting creativity. There are a few bizarre camera movements where the whole quality of the picture shifts to capture a rapid swing or a first-person perspective. But the camera never cuts away from DeBose as she’s taking on action sequences. It doesn’t hone on her as tightly as it does for Quan, of course, but that’s because he is a capable martial artist and a total joy to watch.

All of Quan’s fight scenes, of which there are several, are well-choreographed and distinct from one another. There are one-of-a-kind weapons, great hand-to-hand shots, and incredibly painful-looking blow after blow. Suspension of disbelief is fully required for how any of these characters are still functioning after some of the injuries they repeatedly sustain. Love Hurts (2025) is not light on the blood, but it is light on the consequences of bleeding.

If you remove Rose from the equation entirely, Love Hurts (2025) is a fun movie with some solid characters and performances amidst a nontraditional take on a Valentine’s Day movie. Unfortunately, Rose is so out of place in this movie that it drags the whole thing down. The character needed to be cast, directed, and conceived differently.

Love Hurts (2025) is in theaters everywhere.

Love Hurts

• 6/10 Rating - 6/10

6/10

TL;DR

If you remove Rose from the equation entirely, Love Hurts (2025) is a fun movie with some solid characters and performances amidst a non-traditional take on a Valentine’s Day movie.

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