Review: Cherry
Friday, February 26, 2021 at 9:45PM by Christopher James
Tom Holland ditches the superhero cape for a much grittier turn in the Russo Brothers' new film, "Cherry."Cherry is five movies in one, and each one of them is bad in a different, unique way.
Joe and Anthony Russo’s ambitious new film for Apple TV+ has many different goals. Unfortunately, much like a juggler with too many balls in the air, every one of those goals falls to the ground, landing with a thud. Despite clear ambition and clearly talented people involved, nothing comes together in Cherry. What we’re left with is a misshapen, overlong mess where our lead Forrest Gumps his way through a variety of genres and ripped-from-the-headlines issues...
Cherry, you tease. We're not going to rob banks for another four chapters.It’s fitting that Cherry starts out on an overused trope, the in media res opener. Throughout the nearly two-and-a-half hour movie, it's prepared to rip off elements from many better movies. Not only that, it has to remind us that eventually our unnamed protagonist, known only as Cherry (Tom Holland), will eventually become a bank robber. We have a long way to go before we get there though.
We see him first as a sullen, late teenager who acts as if he has seen Fight Club a few too many times. Feeling alone and lost, Cherry drifts from his current girlfriend into the arms of a university student, Emily (Ciara Bravo). However, Cherry seems to actively avoid stasis at all costs. Just as his relationship with Emily progresses, he enlists in the military as a medic. This presents a boundary for the young couple that we’ve only moments ago started to potentially care about.
Alternating between The Deer Hunter, Full Metal Jacket and Jarhead, Cherry is quickly broken in by Army training. He’s thrown into the Middle East where he encounters the many atrocities of war. While stylishly filmed, there’s little that separates this section from other better war movies that it brings to mind. That’s largely because the movie never wants to be about the war. It’s just another diversion in Cherry’s life. The most original part of the Army section was the POV shot from inside Tom Holland’s asshole. Yes, you read that right.
Upon returning home, Cherry reconnects with Emily. However, their relationship is much different years later. Cherry suffers from PTSD, which makes things like trips to the theater a potential minefield. As a solution, Cherry turns to opioids, which he soon becomes addicted to. It’s only after we get through the low points of his addiction that we make it to the bank robberies from the beginning. Cherry illustrates a very real connection between war, healthcare, drug addiction and crime. Yet, it never says much about any of those topics.
Tom Holland commits to the many things asked of him in Cherry, but the movie asks him to dull his greatest gifts as a movie star.
There’s something old fashioned about Tom Holland’s participation in the film. After spending years as Spider-Man, playing an Army vet turned drug addict turned bank robber feels like a sure fire way to gain acting cred and spread one's wings. If anything, the movie suppresses Holland’s charm that has catapulted him to superstardom. He gamely throws himself into everything the movie asks of him, but it all feels slick and false. We never understand our nameless protagonist, so much that we watch him endure hardship after hardship. Holland is always engaging to watch, but he never succeeds at making Cherry feel like a real three dimensional character. It always comes off as an acting exercise. His Spider-Man co-star, Zendaya has effectively made the jump to drama in TV and film because she knows how to make Rue in Euphoria and even Marie in Malcolm & Marie feel a part of the world around them. In comparison, Cherry feels out of place and out of time.
All of the Apple TV+ productions have a glossy Apple sheen to them, and Cherry is no exception. The Russo brothers seem to have had a large budget to bring their epic journey to the screen. The fact that it looks like a million bucks feels incongruous to the movie’s goals. It wants to be gritty, but it also wants to be sleek and cool. Their talent as filmmakers are on display in Cherry, but not their talent as storytellers. One of their greatest gifts from the Avengers franchise was their ability to balance so many characters and plotlines, while always moving an overarching narrative forward. That talent is virtually absent from this film, which has so little interest in anyone or anything outside of Cherry.
Ciara Bravo demonstrates impressive commitment as Emily, if only the movie had given her more to do.Take for example Emily (Ciara Bravo), Cherry’s love who follows him into the depths of addiction. She’s never afforded any point of view and always remains an “object” in Cherry’s life. Similarly to Holland, Bravo does a great job weathering the storm that’s thrown Emily’s way. Yet, the movie never gives her a chance to demonstrate any inner life. It’s convinced we’re so invested in Cherry that we wouldn’t want to spend any time with anyone in his orbit.
You can’t have a true failure without talent. The Russo Brothers, Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo and everyone involved all demonstrate in some ways strong filmmaking skills and movie star command of the screen. There’s just something fundamentally misguided about the movie’s POV and plotting that it never overcomes. Perhaps this is because every new tone shift, obstacle or plot machanation comes out of nowhere and is thrown onto the characters, rather than coming from within the characters. We go on a journey with Cherry, yet we still don’t know anything about him, including his name. D
Cherry is currently playing in select theaters. It debuts on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 12th.
Reader Comments (3)
I think Holland is very talented and charismatic, but I have no intention to watch Cherry based on the trailer and the reviews. However, if he keeps pushing himself as an actor, he will find the right vehicle in the future.
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