Movie Review Love Hurts

Love Hurts

Directed by Jonathan Eusebio 

Written by Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, Luke Passmore

Starring Ke Huy Quan, Ariana DeBose 

Release Date February 7th, 2025

Published February 12th, 2025

Love Hurts stars Academy Award winner Ke Hui Quan as Marvin, a mild mannered real estate agent who is secretly a killing machine. Years earlier, Marvin left behind the life of an enforcer for his gangster brother, Knuckles (Daniel Wu), for the quiet life of a sweet, good natured, real estate agent that everyone quickly comes to like. It’s a strange transition but one that Marvin is incredibly proud of. His new life may appear dull and his persona, milquetoast, but at least he doesn’t break bones and end lives anymore. 

Naturally, the new status quo of Marvin’s life is about to be upended. Rose (Arianna DeBose), has returned after a lengthy absence. Rose happens to have been key to Marvin getting out from under his brother’s thumb. Marvin had promised to kill Rose in exchange for being able to leave his old life behind. With Rose back in town, Marvin’s lie about killing her is exposed, leading Knuckles to send killers after his little brother to find out why Rose is still alive and where she may be hiding while taunting the people who planned to have her killed.

Click here for my full length review. 

Movie Review Bottoms

Bottoms (2023) 

Directed by Emma Seligmann

Written by Emma Seligmann, Rachel Sennott

Starring Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edibiri, Havana Rose Liu, Ruby Cruz, Marshawn Lynch

Release Date September 1st, 2023 

Published September 1st, 2023 

Queer kids are horny too. This should not surprise anyone but our popular culture, our culture in general has tried to hide from this fact for, perhaps, the entire history of film. Queer kids in movies may have longings, they may have desires and even a love interest, but they are, more often then not, saintly, sexless representations of their community, sanitized for the protection of mainstream moviegoers, even the so-called allies who like the idea of supporting LGBTQ but aren't comfortable actually seeing that representation in its infinite variety on the big screen. 

This makes Emma Seligmann and Rachel Sennott's Bottoms a rather revolutionary new movie. Bottoms portrays a pair of queer, female lead characters whose libidinous desires drive the plot. If that's a problem for you, I suggest you skip movies like the American Pie franchise or Superbad because Bottoms, at least in terms of the frank depiction of horniness, is no different from those teenage, straight, male presentations of sexually active and desirous teens. 

But where those outrageous comedies play everything straight, pun intended, Bottoms starts from a recognizable reality and spins out to a broad story that satirizes the tropes of High School comedies while getting at the heart of the anxieties that drive teenagers, gay or straight. Much like the equally spiky 80s comedy of Heathers, Bottoms presents High School life as violent dystopic, minefield of social expectations while reveling in the catharsis that can come from stepping around the expected into a place that disrupts the norms with gleeful intent. 

Bottoms stars Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edibiri as best friends, P.J and Josie. Outcasts since kindergarten, the queer teens are hopeful that the start of a new school year can be a restart to their High School lives and personas. Both have crushes on cheerleaders that are destined to be unrequited but where P.J is willing to press the issue, Josie prefers a depressing long game that she lays out in one of the funniest monologues of 2023, punctuated by a perfect quip from Sennott's P.J for one of my favorite laughs of the year. 

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media