February has been a mellow month for movies so far, with studios front-loading theaters with the mid-size movies they don’t have a ton of faith in gaining box office momentum. This is pretty normal, as the studios usually wait until after the Oscars to start leaning into the films they’re excited about, so February historically brings some stinkers or maybe even a hidden gem or two. Being that I had an entire day free this week, I caught four movies of varying quality and differing genres: three were romantic (it is Valentine’s season after all), but wildly disparate, and one was about emo sheep ranchers. I regret nothing.
First was Companion, a movie so undermined by its own marketing that the filmmaker should sue the entire department. The second trailer gave away so much of the plot (which unfolds with one jaw-dropping twist after another) that I’m genuinely disappointed I didn’t go into it blind. All you need to know is this: a couple (played by the perfectly cast Sophie Thatcher and Jack Quaid) goes on a weekend trip to meet friends at a cabin in the woods and things go poorly. Bloodily so.
The film approaches thematic ideas like consent, toxic masculinity, and the sometimes-transactional nature of relationships with humor and intelligence in much the same way that The Substance did. But it trades the gratuitously extravagant maximalism for a gently cynical look at romance that plays perfectly as a poison-tipped subversion of cupid’s arrow and the typical Valentine’s Day offerings we’re subjected to as an audience. Fun, smart, perfectly acted, and exciting in equal measures, I really hope Quaid and Thatcher are bonafide movie stars after this.
Next was Love Hurts, the first big leading role from Ke Huy Quan (after his career-defining performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once). He plays Marvin Gable, a real estate agent who used to be a hitman for his brother, Knuckles, an underworld boss. Before retiring, Gable was supposed to kill Rose (Ariana DeBose), but fell in love and let her go instead. Now Knuckles and his henchmen want revenge and the entire movie is basically mild-mannered Marvin learning to kick ass all over again.
This is one of those movies that exists as a vehicle for a very specific kind of actor: one that can play an everyman, but also be badass at the same time. In the 1980s this would have been a Stallone movie, ’90s would be Jackie Chan, ’00s would be Jason Statham, ’10s would be Liam Neeson, ’20s Keanu Reeves, and so on. In fact, Love Hurts is from 87North, the same production company that puts out the John Wick movies. So the emphasis is on the action scenes (most of which are just fine), but the problem is that the heart of the movie is supposed to be the romance between Quan and DeBose, neither of whom have even a twinkle of chemistry with the other. DeBose, after winning an Oscar for West Side Story, has followed that up with Argylle, Kraven the Hunter, and now this, which makes me think she needs a new agent, immediately. Love Hurts is quick and entertaining at points, but the dialogue, script, and direction are so slapdash that it’s not remotely worthy of the work put in by Quan and DeBose.
Next came Heart Eyes, a Valentine’s Day-themed slasher movie that manages to walk the line between romantic comedy and horror pretty perfectly — until it becomes enthralled with its own lore, focusing on ridiculous exposition dumps and ignoring what made the first two-thirds of the movie a low-key charmer. The central couple (played by the magnetic coupling of Olivia Holt and Mason Gooding) has charisma and chemistry to burn, genuinely making the audience care about their new romance and hoping that they survive the Heart Eyes Killer, who only targets couples leading up to Valentine’s Day. It’s a perfect date movie (especially for teenagers), and if you’re not hung up on the ridiculous plotting, a perfectly diverting 90 minutes of bloody entertaining horror. It’s very dumb, but somehow that’s not a total dealbreaker.
Finally, we have Bring Them Down, a revenge thriller starring Christopher Abbott and Barry Keoghan as neighboring sheep farmers feuding over a pair of stolen rams. Debut feature filmmaker Christopher Andrews crafts such an intense and mesmerizing look at warring families in the hills of Ireland that I felt like a fly on the wall, watching the inescapable disintegration of broken people breaking things. Keoghan brings the innate shiftiness that he brings to everything I’ve seen him play and deploys it perfectly, while Abbott once again weaponizes that stillness he contains, creating a character that feels as real as a member of any family.
Bring Them Down is Irish Shepherd Neo-Noir, which I’m pretty sure is an entirely new genre, so good for Andrews and team for creating a world unlike anything I’ve seen before. The film ratchets up tension so quietly that you don’t realize you’ve been death-gripping the arm rests until your hands start aching.
The highlight for me was easily Bring Them Down, but each film has a little something to offer depending on what you want from a movie. I can’t say Love Hurts is a good movie, but if you want a villain that murders people with a damn boba straw, then it won’t hurt to love it. Companion has the twists and turns; Heart Eyes has the goofy, glossy horror; and Bring Them Down might give you some anxiety. Choose your own adventure.
