Movie · 2025 · Action, Comedy, Romance · 1h 23m · R · English
Curator score: 0.3/10 (98.1K ratings)
You can't break up with your past.
Overview
A realtor is pulled back into the life he left behind after his former partner-in-crime resurfaces with an ominous message. With his crime-lord brother also on his trail, he must confront his past and the history he never fully buried.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.3/10
IMDb: 5.3/10
Letterboxd: 2.06/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 18%
Metacritic: 34
TMDB: 5.6/10
Director
Jonathan Eusebio
Production
87North Productions, Universal Pictures, dentsu
Cast
Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Daniel Wu, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Cam Gigandet, Rhys Darby, André Eriksen, Marshawn Lynch, Sean Astin, Drew Scott, Stephanie Sy, Adam Hurtig, Liam Stewart-Kanigan, Yoko Hamamura, Rawleigh Clements-Willis, David MacInnis, Phong Giang, Diana Botelho-Urbanski, Polina Gulijeva
Where to watch
Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Curator Review
Verdict
A promising star vehicle with a workable action-comedy-romance setup, but the execution is widely regarded as flat, awkwardly paced, and short on chemistry or momentum. The lead performance is a bright spot, yet it sounds like the film never fully cashes in on its cast or premise.
Best for
fans of Ke Huy Quan who want to see him headline an action movie
viewers in the mood for lightweight, disposable genre fare
people who prioritize practical stunt work over story polish
Skip if
you want sharp comedy or genuine romantic spark
you’re looking for inventive action that feels fresh
you’re sensitive to thin writing and generic studio-mix plotting
Overview
Love Hurts has the bones of a crowd-pleasing star vehicle: a likable lead, a criminal past, a brother-vs.-brother setup, and enough action-comedy ingredients to suggest easy fun. In practice, it lands closer to a rough draft than a finished movie, with jokes that miss, a romance that never ignites, and a story that feels assembled from better genre movies without finding its own rhythm.
Worth noting
The one element that consistently comes through is Ke Huy Quan’s charm. He seems game for everything the movie asks of him, and the stunt work has flashes of the tactile, prop-driven energy that can make this kind of film sing. But the surrounding material is so uneven that his performance ends up feeling stranded inside a movie that never quite knows what it wants to be.
Bottom line
If you’re mainly here for Quan and a few bruising action beats, there’s some modest value in the watch. As a whole, though, this is an easy pass for anyone hoping for a witty, stylish, or emotionally convincing action-romance.
Top Letterboxd reviews
rania ᯓ★ (1.5★) · 2880 likes
nothing nowhere all at once
jonathan fujii (1.5★) · 2360 likes
Giving Ke Huy Quan this script for a lead role gotta be racist or somethin how dare you give him this
Angie Han (1.5★) · 1328 likes
“fake movie that the characters in a real movie are watching” ass movie
Joe A (1.5★) · 1321 likes
At a slight loss of words when it comes to Love Hurts. It seemingly has the right pieces, but the end result is so…baffling? Not a shred of chemistry between the characters (save Ashley and The Raven) and while I love the use of props in the Chan-esque choreography, I fear the 87North style of action is beginning to feel stale.
Ke Huy Quan still exudes an absurd amount of charm, but its drowned out by a sea of mediocrity.
Podcast Ep. 215- Love Hurts & The Slow Start to 2025
Sydney🚀 (2★) · 1014 likes
Will get the obvious out of the way, Ke Huy Quan is fantastic and deserves better material than this. I would die for that guy. Otherwise this is kind of a snooze fest despite being committed to practical stunts/taking cues from classic martial arts films. It’s an uninspired cobbling together of the John Wick archetype, femme fatale, bumbling henchmen, etc in Valentine’s Day font that never gains momentum or finds a proper flow. Always love seeing Lio Tipton!!