While Valentine’s Day is typically the domain of romantic movies, this year’s unusual offerings include some more subversive takes on the holiday – both Love Hurts (action/crime) and Heart Eyes (horror/slasher) are violent and often mean-spirited Valentines films. And yet, both also anchored by a unique and earnest (and interracial) love story that emerges amid the carnage.
It’s an interesting pairing to be taken separately or together as a weirdly fitting double feature. Both films are now playing in theaters.
Love Hurts – dir. Jonathan Eusebio
Headlining his first film following the smashing success of Everything Everywhere All at Once which announced his comeback and won him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Ke Huy Quan takes the lead – for the first time ever – in the genre-hopping Love Hurts.
Successful realtor Marvin Gable’s life is turned around when his criminal past suddenly catches up with him. The one-time criminal enforcer is suddenly targeted by his former gang boss, who also happens to be his brother (Hong Kong star Daniel Wu), threatening his hard-won second chance at a happy and murder-free life. Marvin is suddenly besieged by ruthless hitmen (Mustafa Shakir, Marshawn Lynch, Cam Gigandet); and at the same time his old flame Rose (Ariana DeBose) also resurfaces, reminding him of a love lost.
Packed with Hong Kong-style action (both martial arts and shoot-outs), a rekindled romance, and light comedy, Love Hurts is trying to do a lot – it’s pretty shaggy but also a blast. Ke is definitely playing both with and directly against type, on one side as a sweetheart realtor who bakes adorable cookies, picks up stray litter, and helps clients find their forever-homes. But he’s also a man running from a sordid and violent past full of murder and mayhem. He’s a one-time killing machine, and capable of devastating martial arts – even if he’s a little out of practice.
Tonally, Love Hurts is a bit like the hyperactive, violence-filled, comedic action style of Birds of Prey, Violent Night, or Deadpool 2 – which makes total sense because it’s the directorial debut of Jonathan Eusebio, who acted as the stunt coodinator or second unit director on all of those films. (Though an even more apt comparison than any of those would be the hitmen-filled, Asian-styled action of Bullet Train, which Eusebio did not work on).
It’s a little shaggy overall, and I’m unconvinced with romantic chemistry between Quan and Bose which feels a little stiff, but you can at least see why they would be attracted to each other. A secondary unlikely romance develops between Gable’s office assistant (Lio Tipton) and one of the hitmen chasing him (Shakir), and I found this one even more weird and endearing, adding some flavor to the overall conflict. And for the Goonies fans, there’s even a touching mini-reunion with Sean Astin as Marvin’s best pal.
I like watching Ke do his thing, I love his comeback, and found this to be a decent if not great little diversion.
Heart Eyes – dir. Josh Ruben
I wouldn’t have expected it but Heart Eyes is my preferred film in this pairing, and the one that actually has a character say the phrase “Love hurts”.
A Valentine’s Day serial killer, dubbed “Heart Eyes” by the media for the characteristic appearance of his grim mask, is entering the third year in a reign of terror. Each year Heart Eyes goes on a Valentine’s Day killing spree in a different city, ruthlessly targeting and murdering couples – and with the movie’s gruesome opening slasher sequence, the hip burg of Seattle suddenly learns it’s their turn.
Heart Eyes’ activities spell a PR disaster for Ally (Olivia Holt), whose marketing campaign depicting tragically doomed loves like Titanic and Romeo and Juliet has wildly backfired for her employer in the wake of the slasher’s couple-killing streak. (Here cued, some criticism of internet cancel culture, which is present but not overstated).
In a rom-com trope, her company brings in Jay (Mason Gooding), a handsome marketing specialist, to help right the ship – setting of the fireworks of both conflict and attraction.
Heart Eyes plays right into those tropes of romantic comedies in a way that feels deliberate and fun, but also earnest. Ally and Jay have a meet-cute and seem like a good match for each other, but not only do they have to overcome a professional obstacle, this script adds another wrinkle: Jay seems like a prime suspect to be the Heart Eyes killer, or perhaps an accomplice.
This is a super-fun movie that actually works on both levels – slasher and rom-com – and feels like an actual fresh approach to these familiar spaces. It does seems like the sort of movie that would be lining up a villain-centered slasher franchise (eg Friday the 13th, or Halloween), even if it has a definitive ending that would seem to prevent that. The kills are frequently gory, and the characters are enjoyably relatable. It’s even occasionally raunchy, but in a way that’s kind of sweet and approachable (the movie’s most hilarious gag involves a vibrator), especially when considered against stereotypical horny teenager tropes.
I think we’re witnessing the introduction of a new classic.
