Netflix’s New ‘Purple Hearts’ Fails to Serve

Purple Hearts, a new film produced and streaming on Netflix, has drastically risen in popularity since its release on July 29th, reaching 150 million viewing hours in its first 10 days.

Directed by Elizabeth Rosenbaum, and starring Sofia Carson as Cassie Salazar and Nicholas Galitzine as Luke Morrow, this film is about Cassie Salazar, a struggling singer-songwriter in Southern California who, as a last resort, starts a fake marriage with Marine Luke Morrow in order to get military health insurance which covers the cost of her diabetes.

In essence, this movie is a mashup of different tropes in an attempt to make a heartwarming film, but it’s overshadowed by the antagonistic arguments the main characters have between themselves and other characters in the movie.

The pacing of the movie is too fast in some places. For example the romantic relationship between Cassie and Luke grows too quickly. Whereas other plot elements drag on too long before being resolved such as with Luke’s financial strain due to his previous addiction problems. Purple Hearts at the worst seemed like military propaganda and at the best is a mediocre romance film, with Cassie’s character being the only one of them to compromise their political views for their relationship, while Luke’s stances stayed the same.

The main characters are inherently unlikable, both being disagreeable and brash. In addition, Luke’s addiction is overlooked and rarely talked about in depth. Johnno’s character seemed rushed and his character’s contribution to the plot felt forced. Another character whose contribution is forced is Frankie, another Marine, Cassie’s best friend and a mutual link for Cassie and Luke, who is essentially the common ground between the two of them.

Frankie’s girlfriend serves as an example to Cassie as what she could be like with Luke. Yet, both of these characters just seem like objects to move the plot forward instead of actual people, and this seems to be a theme within a lot of the other characters.

In conclusion, Purple Hearts is a self-righteous, shallow film that wasn’t thought through, and it fell flat in its attempt to be a moving romance film by having a poorly written plot and rushed characters. This movie just feels like it was churned out in order to meet a deadline and in the end it wasn’t a quality film.