WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for 2025’s Love Hurts.Actor Ke Huy Quan has continued his Hollywood resurgence with his leading role in Love Hurts. This action-packed rom-com depicts Quan as Marvin Gable, a realtor and former hitman who must fight for his life when his dark past catches up with him. While Quan and Ariana DeBose’s characters in Love Hurts are the focal point of the story, the film features a noteworthy reunion between Quan and The Goonies co-star Sean Astin, who plays Marvin’s manager, Cliff.
Marvin and Cliff have only one scene together in 2025’s Love Hurts. However, the film features a clever reference to how Quan won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Waymond Wang in Everything Everywhere All At Once. The movie’s reference to Quan’s Oscar win is especially heartwarming due to his journey to stardom, as well as his history of working with Astin in Hollywood.
Marvin Winning An Award Cleverly Represents Ke Huy Quan’s Oscar Win For Everything Everywhere All At Once
Marvin & Quan’s Awards Represent The Progress They’ve Both Made
In the first act of Love Hurts, just after Mustafa Shakir’s Raven attacks him, Marvin gets another surprise visit from Cliff at his office. There, Cliff awards Marvin the Realtor of the Year Award, with the latter taking pride in the progress he’s made with his humble, more fulfilling life away from crime. The moment is bittersweet, given that Marvin is trying to go into hiding now that his mobster brother Knuckles (Daniel Wu) is after him. Nevertheless, this award carries plenty of meaning as it perhaps symbolizes his recent win at the Oscars.
After a long disappearance from the limelight and many years working as a stunt choreographer, Quan made a stellar comeback as an actor with his Oscar-winning performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once. Since his victory, Quan hasn’t just gotten a lead role in Love Hurts, but also in high-profile projects such as Loki, Kung Fu Panda 4, American Born Chinese, The Electric State, and Zootopia 2. Just as Marvin found a new life as an award-winning realtor in Love Hurts, so too did Quan as an Oscar-winning Hollywood actor.
Sean Astin’s Involvement In Love Hurts Makes The Ke Huy Quan Recognition Even Better
Astin Gets To See How Far His Friend Has Come In Love Hurts
Sean Astin’s appearance alongside Ke Huy Quan is especially meaningful, given that they worked together as actors in 1985’s The Goonies and 1992’s Encino Man. While Quan had few acting roles in the years since then, Astin achieved greater success with projects such as Rudy, the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, and Stranger Things. Though Quan’s acting career stagnated for almost 20 years, he finally caught up with Astin by becoming an Oscar-winning actor and getting his first lead action role in Love Hurts.
Astin’s reunion with Quan in Love Hurts is even more touching when Cliff says to Marvin: “You’ve come a long way. I’m proud of you.” With this bit of dialogue, Astin is also expressing his pride and happiness for Quan for all he’s achieved since their days working together as child actors, having won an Academy Award and become a favorite Hollywood star. It brings greater emotion to this scene, as it shows the bond of friends both real and fictional as they celebrate one’s outstanding achievement.
Quan’s long road from a child actor to an Oscar-winning action hero is effectively captured in Marvin receiving his realtor award in the film.
All in all, Ke Huy Quan’s lead role in Love Hurts seems like a fitting award for all the hard work he’s done in Hollywood over the years. Quan’s long road from a child actor to an Oscar-winning action hero is effectively captured in Marvin receiving his realtor award in the film. The fact that he got to share this experience on camera with his old friend, Sean Astin, makes it even more worthwhile.
