Purple Hearts (2022)
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A struggling musician and a soldier enter into a marriage of convenience to solve their respective financial and medical problems.
The story
Cassie Salazar is a struggling musician and bartender in Oceanside, California, who is battling to afford insulin for her type 1 diabetes. When she meets Luke Morrow, a soldier about to be deployed to Iraq, the two realize they have conflicting needs: she needs health insurance, and he needs financial stability. They decide to enter into a marriage of convenience, intending to divorce after a year. However, as Luke is deployed and they begin to communicate regularly to maintain their ruse, the lines between their staged arrangement and genuine feelings begin to blur.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Cassie Salazar, a musician struggling with the costs of type 1 diabetes, enters into a marriage of convenience with Luke Morrow, a soldier heading to Iraq. They agree to marry for her insurance and his financial stability, intending to divorce in a year. During his deployment, they maintain the ruse through digital communication and grow closer. After Luke is injured in an IED explosion and returns home, he moves in with Cassie. They navigate the complexities of their fake marriage while dealing with Luke's past debts and his father's disapproval. When their fraudulent marriage is exposed by a debt collector, Luke faces a court-martial. He takes full responsibility to protect Cassie from criminal charges, resulting in a prison sentence. While he is imprisoned, Cassie's music career takes off. After his release, the two finally commit to a real marriage and begin a life together.
- First release year
- 2022
- Runtime (minutes)
- 122
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum
- Writers
- Liz W. Garcia · writer; Kyle Jarrow · writer
- Cast and characters
- Sofia Carson · Cassie Salazar; Nicholas Galitzine · Luke Morrow; Chosen Jacobs · Frankie; John Harlan Kim · Toby; Kat Cunning · Nora; Linden Ashby · Jacob Morrow Sr.
- Genres
- romantic drama
- Themes
- marriage of convenience; military life; hidden feelings
- Tone and mood
- romantic; melodramatic
- Setting
- Oceanside, California and Iraq (deployment context).
- Premise and plot tags
- romance; military; medical struggle
- Source material / true-story basis
- novel of the same name by Tess Wakefield
- Reception
- The film received generally negative reviews from critics, with some criticizing the plot as contrived and the chemistry as lacking substance.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 30 · scale: 100
- Awards and nominations
- Best Musical Moment · MTV Movie & TV Awards · Won
- Production trivia
- The production was filmed in locations including Los Angeles, San Diego, and Austin.; The film's budget was described as 'thrifty'.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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