'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
The latest addition to Netflix's romance genre is Purple Hearts, starring singer and actress Sofia Carson and Cinderella-famed Nicholas Galitzine in the lead roles. Directed by Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, the 2-hour long film was released on the streaming platform on July 29, 2022.
Other members of the cast included Chosen Jacobs, Kat Cunning, Linden Ashby, Anthony Ippolito, John Harlan Kim, Sarah Rich, Scott Deckert, Loren Escandon, and Breana Raquel. Screenwriters Kyle Jarrow and Liz W. Garcia penned the sentimental drama that's bound to tug at a few heartstrings.
Purple Hearts starts off as something unique only to give into the clichés of an opposites-attract romance
The plot follows Cassie, an aspiring musician with type 1 diabetes, working odd jobs to make ends meet. When we met Cassie, she was a staunch liberal with a "no dating soldiers" policy, anti-guns, and anti-war ideals. She showed rowdy and misogynistic Marines their place when they made lewd and inappropriate comments in the name of patriotic hubris.
Purple Hearts took off to a great start with an enjoyable dynamic between Cassie, a liberal, and Luke, a soon-to-be deployed Marine and a conservative. However, the lines could have been written better rather than sounding like a silly argument between social media show-offs.
The film also began as an interesting commentary and satire about America's broken healthcare system, jingoism, and the glorification of racism in the name of patriotism. It spiraled into a threadbare, opposites-attract romantic cliché pretty soon.
A victim of the U.S. healthcare system and big pharma, Cassie found it increasingly difficult to secure life-saving insulin for herself with her meager income. Luke, on the other hand, had a past fraught with drug addiction and a dealer chasing him in the present for repayment of some loans.
The only solution to their problems? A marriage of convenience that would entail Cassie having access to military spousal privileges that included full healthcare and would get Luke some extra money that he could use to repay his loans.
Their play-pretend marriage started taking a passionate and romantic turn on the night of their wedding. However, the two chose to ignore the moment of passion, and soon after, Luke was deployed to Iraq. The film could have done a better job with scenes involving Luke's base camp training and time in Iraq.
Without spoiling much, a lot of the crucial moments between the two characters and the turning points in their story seemed rushed or left to assumption on the viewers' part. The two-hour runtime could have been better justified by incorporating more dramatic elements and real, vulnerable, and raw moments.
In any case, Luke returned from Iraq with severely injured legs after stepping on an IED. Their sham marriage had made Cassie an unwilling caretaker for her fake husband, but their proximity and latent feelings for each other led to bigger sparks flying between them. However, the plot tip-toed the will-they-won't-they line until the very end, making Purple Hearts seem unnecessarily stretched.
Amidst all this new drama and the beginnings of a new romance, the characters completely deviate from their true nature as portrayed at the beginning of the film. Cassie seemed to have suddenly become a patriot and a doting wife, both of which she loathed when the film began. Moreover, her musical career remained untouched by the theatrics in real life, making the story very hard to believe.
Overall, the plot of Purple Hearts was engaging for anyone who likes watching romantic movies. It offers a bit of an old world charm with the military and war setup and the clichés of will-they-won't-they romance that's always interesting for those who breathe in the genre. But the writing could have been better, and it wouldn't have hurt to have had some originality and unpredictability.
Purple Hearts features romantic drama that lacks chemistry and music that lacks gravity
Purple Hearts may be a romantic drama designed to tug at the heartstrings with its emotional premise and patriotic sentiments, but the execution would have been so much better if the actors had better chemistry. Carson and Galitzine gave flat performances, and their lack of chemistry made watching their romantic and intimate scenes slightly awkward.
The plot also veered in unreasonable directions when it came to their love story. A hopeless romantic would credit that to a different kind of love story, but watching Cassie write a song dedicated to American heroes after having gone off about her lack of patriotism was simply uncharacteristic. She also credited Luke with being her muse for the song.
Unsurprisingly, her first ever original became a viral sensation and got her bigger gigs, effectively paving her path to becoming a rockstar. While she performed at concerts and got the offer to open the show for Florence + the Machine, her career remained unaffected by the tumultuous drama in her life concerning Luke. It was as if her musical journey was another plot in itself, not connected to the film.
The musical overload also didn't help to make up for the lack of chemistry between the actors. The film would have been salvageable if the songs had managed to reach for the heart and squeeze some emotions, but none of them particularly stood out.
Purple Hearts is a good enough escapist romance that will keep you engaged, albeit feeling a bit stretched given its runtime. However, don't expect anything too extraordinary to come out of it. The film is now available to stream on Netflix.
