Most people my age are very aware of politics. Although I am not exactly sure when the shift from being somewhat ignorant to being painfully aware occurred, it happened nonetheless. Given the sensitivity of the topic during this day and age, I was astonished when I found out Netflix was tackling such a large topic in the form of a rom-com. 

Purple Hearts is a recently released movie on Netflix. The premise of the movie is that Cassie (Sofia Carson) is a bartender who aspires to be a full-time singer-songwriter; however, she doesn’t have the money to support herself due to her expensive illness. On the opposing side of Cassie, we meet the other main character—and Cassie’s love interest—Luke (Nicholas Galitzine). Luke is a delinquent-turned-Marine who has debt to pay off from his past. 

The pair conspire together—despite their many differences—to pull off a fake marriage in order to receive the extra Marine benefits such as money and insurance. Throughout the entirety of the movie, there is an underlying theme surrounding the pair’s political views. Cassie is extremely liberal while Luke is the opposite. 

Due to this unique theme, I was immediately intrigued by the movie. However, as I watched, it quickly became clear that serious topics should remain serious and not be forced into light-hearted romantic scenarios. 

With how long the movie is, one would assume that there would be more accurate coverage of the topic at hand; however, many of the military scenes felt shallow. Although I personally know very little about how the Marines work, there were many situations that I felt needed deeper emotions to match the setting. It’s hard to say if this was a flaw in the writing or the acting. I have watched Carson in many things over the years and have enjoyed most of her work, which leads me to believe it was a lack of knowledge and depth within the script. 

Aside from this specific aspect of the movie, I did still enjoy the rom-com aspect. There was a clear tension between the characters, and in a lot of the scenes, I could feel the love they had for each other as they quickly went from being strangers to best friends to being in love.  

However, that being said, I stand by the fact that the movie would have been better if the producers took that same tension and applied it to a different storyline. 

Like many Netflix rom-coms, the ending was quite predictable—which is to be expected—but after all these two characters went through together, I was expecting it to be a bit more dramatic. Their reunion felt slightly stale and was cut short by the fact that Luke was getting deployed. 

Overall, I have very conflicting opinions about the movie. On one hand, watching it was enjoyable, and the characters—although slightly underdeveloped—were still likable. Their love story throughout the film was almost enough to distract me from all of the plot issues, but not quite enough.