Parents' Guide to Love Hurts

Despite Quan's engaging performance and several well-executed action sequences, this action comedy struggles to find its footing. While the film's premise shows early potential, the action evolves jarringly from precise, artful choreography to gratuitous violence. Luke Passmore's screenplay offers a threadbare story riddled with plot holes and an unconvincing romance at its core. Though both Quan and DeBose bring Oscar-winning credentials to their roles, their on-screen chemistry falls flat, and because the movie fails to establish a compelling history between their characters, Marvin's willingness to risk everything for Rose feels hollow. Rose herself emerges as a particularly problematic character: Once her backstory comes to light, she becomes increasingly difficult to sympathize with, except for the fact that she's the reason that Marvin unleashes his old fighting skills.

Former NFL player Marshawn Lynch and Norwegian performer André Eriksen offer comic relief as a duo of assassins working for Renny Merlo (Cam Gigandet), Knuckles' duplicitous second-in-command. Meanwhile, The Raven develops an awkward romance with poetry-loving Ashley that includes a clever nod to Sixteen Candles. But in the end, Love Hurts' three main elements—the comedy, the romance, and the action—never quite mesh into a coherent whole, and the film's uneven tone makes its brief 83-minute run time somehow feel oddly sluggish. It's particularly disappointing to see talents like Quan and DeBose as leads in such underwhelming material. But if all you want is action, you might still find it a decent pick.