The latest Netflix romcom, Purple Hearts, has dropped and has already fallen victim to the harsh words of critics and been labelled a ‘bloated dramedy’.
The movie only premiered on the streaming site today, July 29, and has already received a slew of bad reviews with two saying it wouldn’t be ‘winning any medals’.
Purple Hearts Netflix
Purple Hearts is based on the 2017 novel by Tess Wakefield and follows the story of Cassie (played by Sofia Carson) a singer-songwriter, who marries Luke (played by Nicholas Galitzine) a ‘troubled’ soldier so they can both enjoy the military benefits awarded to married couples.
The Netflix synopsis then teases fans with: ‘But when tragedy strikes, the line between real and pretend begins to blur.’
Cassie is a type-1 diabetic and Luke is a former addict attempting to win back his father’s approval so the pair decide to get married and kill two birds with one stone. However, when Luke is injured in combat Cassie is forced to become his caretaker.
Netflix Purple Hearts slated in reviews
The typical romcom narrative is usually one that is much-loved, but this time it doesn’t seem to have won over the critics.
Two separate reviews gave the same phrase; the film won’t be ‘winning any medals’, while another called it a ‘drippy, dopey’ fantasy.
First up is Variety‘s writer Guy Lodge who called the movie a ‘store-brand Nicholas Sparks knockoff’ as he criticised the age-old narrative of ‘fake relationship turns to true love’.
He wrote: ‘Perhaps, one day, somebody will make a film in which a hastily arranged marriage of convenience between two virtual strangers doesn’t blossom into real love, and instead more tensely culminates in mutual acrimony and cathartic divorce. Until then, those inclined can moon over drippy, dopey fantasies like Purple Hearts.‘
The review goes on to criticise the script and the Neil Diamond cover featured in the movie.
The New York Times weren’t any kinder, although the writer explains they think the movie had potential but seems to squander it.
Claire Shaffer writes: ‘Purple Hearts had the potential to be a poignant melodrama — or maybe a sharp satire — about the options available to those left behind by the U.S. health care system. Instead, the film wallows in contrived plots and subplots, made worse by the dearth of chemistry between the two leads.’
AV Club talks about the lack of chemistry between the characters and the lack of originality of the storyline as Luke Thompson writes: ‘A viewer doesn’t have to possess the omniscience of Emperor Palpatine to understand that everything from here will proceed exactly as they almost certainly predicted from the start.’
NME‘s Nick Levine gives a similar take from the movie (and only two out of five stars) when they write: ‘Purple Hearts is crushingly predictable and never quite rings true, but it’s not completely hopeless.’
The reviewer does point out there are some good moments such as when ‘Cassie calls out the casual racism of a drugstore clerk and one of Luke’s obnoxious marine buddies’.