The Witness Protection Program started in the 1960s. Run by the U.S. Marshals, there are similar programs in other countries Canada, the UK and even in the Ukraine. Unfortunately, the program is not all wine and roses: they handle the witnesses’ initial set-up, but they are expected to get a job and live a uneventful life in order to keep a low profile even to the point of not making contact with family members for the most part. Perhaps the character of Marvin Gable would have benefitted from this in Love Hurts.
Veteran stunt performer Jonathan Eusebio makes his directorial debut alongside a cast that includes Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose, Mustafa Shakir, Lio Tipton, Daniel Wu, and Sean Astin. Quan plays Gable, a loving man who works as a realtor in Milwaukee, and one Valentine’s Day, a person from his past named Rose (DeBose) shows up. The problem is that even though he helped her fake her death, she brings their criminal past back with her, including his crime-lord brother.
There is not too much to this film, and that is reinforced by its one-hour twenty-three-minute run time. Although that normally isn’t a problem, there may be some that don’t feel that this will give them the “bang for their buck” that they are looking for (pun intended). The plot is very predictable, and even though they tried adding relationship subplots and emotional moments, those fell flat. The acting is also just “there,” with Quan and DeBose doing an alright job as the leads with good chemistry. If there is a positive here, the performances of Tipton and Shakir where a relationship “starts” had some good moments.
The biggest positive of the film was the action sequences, with Quan showing off his martial arts skills. Given what Eusebio is known for, there are also some innovative kills. However, Quan himself seems miscast in a role that would fit more to someone like Jackie Chan in a film that feels more like a rehash of John Wick (which the director also worked on), where they tried adding the comedy twist but didn’t really work. Due to good action, I can barely recommend Love Hurts as watching it at home on a cable TV network.
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