REVIEW: Cherry Doesn’t Live Up to the Hype
How does one man’s life end up with him robbing banks to pay for his drug addiction? Could post traumatic stress disorder be the blame for this change, due to his time serving over in the Middle East? Or, could it be the influences from his toxic relationships with his girlfriend and/or his friends? All of these questions arise in Joe and Anthony Russo’s new film, Cherry.
Starring Tom Holland, and based on the novel by Nico Walker, the film follows a young man, Cherry (Tom Holland), who has his whole life ahead of him. At the beginning of the film, he is in college and dating the girl of his dreams, Emily (Ciara Bravo), what could go wrong. However, a change of events occurs that pushes him to enlist in the Army and, what seemed like a good idea at the time, ends up changing his life, and not in a good way. After returning home from serving overseas, Cherry’s life begins to spiral and he develops a painful opioid addiction that begins to consume is life and eventually lead him to a life of bank robbing.
With all the hype that has been surrounding this film, I was sure it was going to be a winner, but it in the end it was actually a let down. The film feels incomplete. As though the Russo Brothers were unsure where they wanted to take Cherry’s life and ended up getting lost along the way. It may be because this film requires the viewers complete and absolute focus. If the viewer is not fully engaged at all times then film will leave the viewer with absolutely no clue as to what’s going on. Or it also could be because the viewer never fully understand what is driving Cherry to do the things he is doing. Is it the love he has for Emily? His PTSD from serving in Iraq? A mix of both? You never really get a concrete answer. Cherry spends more time spewing metaphors about what he was told life should be or could be then actually explaining the real issues that he is experiencing.
On a positive note, the film does do a decent job of depicting how drug addictions can consume and destroy someone’s life. It also does a good job of delving into the drastic measures one will take in order to get their next hit. Finally, beautifully shot, the epilogue featured little to no dialogue and really one of the only shinning moment of this film. Not because it is the end, but because of how much story the Russo Brothers tell in such a small amount of time. From the beautiful music to the brief glimpses as Cherry’s life, viewers are left with no questions when the epilogue is all said and done.
For Holland and Bravo’s first real dramatic performances, they both do pretty good jobs. These performances must have been both mentally and physically draining for the actors and neither let those potential hardships get in the way of their abilities to bring their characters to life. With that being said, both did well with the material that they were given to work with, but I am not sure either were Academy worthy performances.
For those chomping at the bit to see to see Cherry, wait until it releases on AppleTV+. For those without an AppleTV+ subscription, wait until it is released On Demand rather than rushing to the theaters to see it.
Grade: C