Netflix’s Purple Hearts — based on the eponymous novel by Tess Wakefield — tells the story of a musician Cassie (Sophia Carson), who gets married to a marine named Luke (Nicholas Galitzine) as they both are in need of the extra money military couples get. The marriage of convenience however soon turns into something real when Luke gets injured in combat.
Story
Cassie Salazar is a struggling musician who suffers from type 1 diabetes. Unfortunately, her health insurance doesn’t cover the form of insulin she needs to survive and financial troubles add to the problems.
After much thought, she ends up marrying a soon -to-be-deployed marine, Luke Morrow who is also in need of the money to pay off his former drug dealer.
They agree to split the extra money in half and exchange rings. Luke ships off to Iraq and Cassie, now medically sorted, focuses on her musical career.
The two exchange daily calls, texts and emails as they need to make it look like a real marriage to avoid suspicion. Things take a turn when Luke is injured in action and returns home to recover.
Cassie involves his father and brother in the mix as she is scared for his life initially but Luke warns her that his ex Military Police father might see through their act.
Luke moves in with Cassie to arouse any doubt and the two set some boundaries and work through their differences till the former can walk again.
It is smooth sailing for them for a little while as Luke recovers and Cassie’s career flourishes but the frustrated drug dealer who has stopped getting his money due to Luke’s injury decides to make life difficult for the marine and his family.
Performances
Sophia Carson is at her musical and acting best in Purple Hearts. Her character has multiple layers to her which she fleshes out brilliantly throughout the narrative.
She’s a headstrong liberal but also a dedicated musician. Furthermore, she has a lot of reservations when it comes to romance but at the same time, has a heart that struggles to cope with emotions.
All these factors make Cassie an extremely relatable person and Carson passes with flying colours bringing her to life.
Nicholas Galitzine matches Carson in every step and shells out another relatable performance with his portrayal of Luke. A former addict trying to make something of his life and make his dad proud is what his arc is mostly about.
He slowly shifts into fearing for his life as he deploys and then starts caring for Cassie despite having contrasting views to her liberal ones. However, there are time when he may seem quite wooden but makes up for it in other instances.
The way the two leads play off of each other is a treat to watch as it is not all mush and cuddles. Their story takes a much more reserved and subtle approach towards love amid some problematic developments.
The supporting cast includes Chosen Jacobs, Linden Ashby, Scott Deckert, Loren Escandon, Anthony Ippolito, Kendall Chappell, Kat Cunning, and more. Even though these actors have little screen time, each one puts their best foot forward when given the chance.
Positives
Purple Hearts is quite level headed in its approach. The film never feels like an obvious tale filled with romance even though we all know where it is headed. The dynamic of a fake marriage and the legal repercussions of it add an extra layer of drama to the narrative.
It is not the story but the execution that matters here and for the most part, director Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum succeeds in achieving the perfect balance between believability and outlandish movie romance.
The film also subtly touches upon topics like health insurance policies, jingoism, treatment of immigrants, among others, but it never feels preachy.
All these discussions come up up during arguments between the leading pair which feels nothing short of a real-life couple bickering.
Purple Hearts also boasts of some very beautiful looking scenes and a great collection of original songs sung by Carson’ character on her musical journey.
Negatives
What plagues Purple Hearts is its tendency to, quite literally, jump to conclusions without much exposition. This may be due to a limited runtime.
It takes us to the very end as it answers if Luke and Cassie will end up together of not. However, it still feels quite incomplete in its approach to that point.
Cassie is so against love and companionship but suddenly changes her mind right before the last scene. It is understandable why it happened but the narrative does little to show her gradually shifting mindset.
In addition, there a few more inconsistencies in character writing. Cassie is shown to be a determined liberal who is against guns and warfare but suddenly turns patriotic when her make believe husband goes to Iraq.
Therefore, despite its predictable plot, which is kind of unavoidable in this case, Purple Hearts tries too much to not be a cliché that it ends up contradicting itself in many instances.
Lastly, it is great that the lead actress is also a singer but the two hour film is full of so many song performances that it almost starts feeling like a musical at one point. The songs are brilliant, but they could have been reduced or spaced out more evenly.
Verdict
Purple Hearts is not your conventional mushy romantic drama despite its obvious plot. There are some very relatable and gut wrenching moments sprinkled with gusts of love that make it a worthy contender for your watchlist. Don’t go into it expecting a lot of Hollywood lovey-dovey moments, you will be disappointed.
Rating: 3/5
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