Tag Archives: Valentine’s Day

Love Hurts

There’s a lot more HURT than LOVE in the new movie Love Hurts. The barrage of comic violence has folks in pain from fists, feet, guns, knives and various other means of human punishment.

The story? It’s the old “hit man tries to go straight” bit. Marvin Gable (Ke Huy Quan) is a successful realtor, having put behind him his history of violence. But when what appears to be a Valentine’s Day card arrives with an ominous message within, he realizes that he has to elude various parties who want to settle scores.

His main nemesis is his brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu) who has engaged numerous henchmen to help track him down. Gable’s old romantic flame Rose (Ariana DeBose) is also back in the picture. 

The film has numerous references to that holiday of love but to call Love Hurts a Valentine’s Day movie is kinda like calling Die Hard a Christmas movie. It’s not the sort of Valentine’s Day-related movie that would be likely to engender thoughts of romance.

Also in the cast are Sean Astin who was a cast mate of Quan 40 years ago in The Goonies and former NFL great Marshawn Lynch. Plus a quick appearance by one of TV’s Property Brothers.

Quan and DeBose both have on-screen charisma. And Oscars! So there is genuine talent here.

Love Hurts is a relatively mindless bit of “John Wick lite” type violence with a few laughs along the way. It clocks in at a thrifty 82 minutes. Rated R for the comic violence and F-bombs galore. But, interestingly, no sex or nudity. 

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What to Expect When You’re Expecting

It was better than I was expecting. (And much funnier than the book!)

Like most ensemble romantic comedy movies with large casts of interacting characters, WTEWYE is predictable. How predictable? Five seconds into the movie, you know exactly how the first scene will end.

WTEWYE does have more laugh out loud funny moments than the Garry Marshall ensemble movies, such as “Valentine’s Day.” Here we have five Atlanta area couples dealing with fertility issues, planned pregnancies, surprise pregnancies and adoption. Of course, there is also a fair amount of poignancy with the pregnancy.

Interestingly, the only mother-to-be in the film who has given birth in real life is Jennifer Lopez, whose character is infertile. She and her husband adopt a child from Ethiopia. The pregnant women are Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick and Brooklyn Decker. Elizabeth Banks is the funniest of the five.

A good bit of the WTEWYE’s humor comes from a group of dads who get together to push their offspring in strollers. Thomas Lennon of “Reno 911” fame and Chris Rock are part of that group.

For men and women who are new parents (and for many of us whose youngest offspring are now teens), the film will bring back memories of pregnancies, some of which you may have forgotten. Along with the pregnancies, we follow the development of romantic relationships between the couples to predictable outcomes.

Maybe the most impressive aspect of WTEWYE is how realistic the prosthetic tummies appeared on the film’s moms.

WTEWYE is a pleasant enough amusement. But if you are newly pregnant, don’t count on the movie to be instructive. Buy the book.

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