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Cherry First Reviews: Tom Holland Shines in Ambitious but Overstuffed Adaptation

Critics say the russo brothers' latest collaboration with the mcu's spider-man tries to do too much and doesn't quite accomplish enough, but its star is brilliant..

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Marvel directors Joe and Anthony Russo ( Captain America: Civil War , Avengers: Endgame ) reunite with current Spider-Man actor Tom Holland for Cherry , an ambitious drama that proves they’re interested in a lot more than just epic superhero blockbusters. Does the effort pay off, though? The first reviews of the new film are mixed on the success and failure of the adaptation, which chronicles the stacked, lengthy story of a young man through his experience in the Iraq War and then his subsequent drug addiction and criminal exploits. Holland comes out on top for most critics, though, even including those with negative reactions overall.

Here’s what critics are saying about Cherry :

Do the Russo brothers have another hit on their hands?

A masterclass in filmmaking… It’s all too easy to throw the word ‘masterpiece’ around, but  Cherry  deserves it. –  Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

This is a consistently engaging flick… likely to be one of the more underrated titles of 2021. –  Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

Powerful… It may not be perfect, but it is close. –  Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

It doesn’t succeed as a war film, as a heist flick, or the star vehicle it so craves to be for Holland. It’s just average at its core. –  Robert Daniels, The Playlist

Cherry is prime contender for one of the worst films of the year. – Jeffrey Zhang, Strange Harbors

Should they stick to the comic book stuff?

It proves that there’s much more to Joe and Anthony than just capes, shields, and special effects. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

The Russos are better moviemakers than their Marvel movies allow them to be. They demonstrate that here. – Glenn Kenny, New York Times

The main takeaway of Cherry is that being able to make a good superhero film doesn’t mean you can direct a good war and crime drama. – Nicole Ackman, Next Best Picture

There may not be a shallow CG background this time, but there’s a shallow narrative. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

I admire the Russos for trying to take on material that’s drastically different from everything else in their filmography. But  Cherry  is a movie that quickly gets away from them. – Matt Goldberg, Collider

(Photo by ©Apple TV+)

How is their directorial style here?

There’s a lot of style and skill on display and despite the dark subject matter, it means  Cherry  is a visually entertaining watch. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Here we have a movie that succeeds wildly due to the Russos’ creativity… They employ all manner of tricks, as well as some incredibly clever choices. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

There are some incredible uses of the camera here… It feels a lot like the filmmakers wanted to experiment and try some new things. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

Its stylistic elements are invigorating. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

You might not think of them in the same breath as the auteur directors of our times. But they graduate to that class here, giving the film its own unique narrative and visual style. – Joey Morona, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cherry  is showy and immature. The directors’ stylistic choices are not only jarring, they often undercut moments of emotional heft by distracting the viewer and taking them right out of the moment. – Laura Potier, Outtake Mag

Chucking aspect ratios, needle-drops, and tricks of style into a blender doesn’t equal a good movie, but it looks like nobody wanted to tell the Russos post- Endgame . – Jeffrey Zhang, Strange Harbors

How is it as an adaptation of Nico Walker’s book ?

The book was celebrated as a gritty generational rallying cry. The Russo brothers, working in a style of troweled-on extravagance, inflate it into a showreel. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Cherry  seems to rush through so much of the minutia of the novel which inspired it that it just feels like checking boxes. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot

In trying to tell everything, there’s a lack of focus and connectivity. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Over-stylized and overstuffed to a fatal fault, Cherry takes its source material’s aware self-loathing and transforms it into a shallow music video. – Jeffrey Zhang, Strange Harbors

How is the script on its own ?

The screenplay by Jessica Goldberg and Angela Russo-Otstot is rock solid, in an old-fashioned way. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

Perhaps the sign of a script that is bloated and thick, there are also times  Cherry  feels like parody. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

Miss a piece of the action because you were checking Twitter? Don’t worry, the ceaseless, incessant narration will fill you in! – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

It becomes obvious that there is no overarching vision for what this film is about or who it is for. – Leigh Monson, WhatToWatch

The Russos and their writers simply didn’t know how or where to cut Walker’s story down. The movie lacks focus. – Hope Madden, Columbus Underground

Is the film’s length an issue?

The film takes its time, and it’s time well taken. – Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The story doesn’t really kick in for about 80 minutes. It’s a good story, but does not require as much setup as its given. – Fred Topel, Showbiz Cheat Sheet

One of the biggest faults with this movie is how long it is. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

It has an overly-long runtime which drags a little during the lead up to the third act. – Ben Rolph, Discussing Film

At two hours and twenty minutes long, fatigue will likely have already set in by the time you reach its third act. – Nicole Ackman, Next Best Picture

Does it try to do too much ?

This movie is basically four movies in one — a romantic comedy, a war film, a drug movie, and a heist flick — which is not necessarily a bad thing. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

The Russos managed to balance everything from teen romance to drug addiction perfectly. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

It’s a convoluted mess that feels like several different films stitched together into one Frankenstein’s monster of a movie. – Nicole Ackman, Next Best Picture

While it sounds like a fair idea on paper, the exercise of making these varied tones and concepts doesn’t always work, even within each of the sections. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

The movie presents itself as a dread-ridden slice of life, yet almost every moment in it feels based not on experience but on the experience of other movies. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

What are some of the films it references ?

The Russos seem interested in making something akin to Scorsese cinema… Eventually Cherry breaks free enough of its influences to present a credible, at times harrowing, American addiction tragedy. – Glenn Kenny, New York Times

[It’s] a horrendous Scorsese knockoff that fails to understand why that director’s movies work so well. – Matt Goldberg, Collider

Cherry  takes inspirations from  Fight Club ,  Full Metal Jacket ,  Jarhead , and  Requiem for a Dream  to put them in a blender for a punishing two hours and twenty minutes. – Leigh Monson, WhatToWatch

Cherry  wants to be  Requiem for a Dream  and  Jarhead  and  Bonnie and Clyde  all at once but manages only to be a haphazard imitation of all. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot

Cherry has the beating heart of an indie film wrapped in the sweeping, epic flair of a Quentin Tarantino, Oliver Stone or Ang Lee movie. – Joey Morona, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Does Tom Holland’s performance outshine the movie’s faults ?

This is certainly Tom Holland’s show, with the writing, cinematography, and editing working in coordinated effort to highlight just how hard Holland’s working to give us this character’s blood, sweat, and tears. – Leigh Monson, WhatToWatch

Though his ambition is present in every instance, there are times where Holland can’t make the gravity of some moments really land. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

Because of him, this is a good movie. Without him, I am not sure Cherry would have accomplished what it sets out to do. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

It’s a fine performance but one that will surely be looked back at as a stepping stone, rather than a genuine coming out party. – Matt Oakes, Silver Screen Riot

He really pushes himself in a wide-ranging and committed performance, holding together a movie that is overambitious and narratively muddled. – Ian Sandwell, Digital Spy

Does anyone else in the cast shine ?

Ciara Bravo, as Cherry’s girlfriend, wife and eventual partner in junkie-dom, is at times the performer who has the strongest emotional hold on the viewer, and the most memorable find here. – Glenn Kenny, New York Times

Bravo, in her first major role, delivers an equally powerful performance, matching her co-star step for step. – Joey Morona, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Ciara Bravo is a revelation too, presenting the heart and soul of the film. – Joey Magidson, Awards Radar

Bravo, meanwhile, puts herself on the map here in a huge way and makes one thing clear: she’s a star…we cannot wait to see what she does next. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

Forrest Goodluck and Jack Raynor deliver an excellent mix of tragedy and comedy. – Hope Madden, Columbus Underground

Supporting players, often Black folks, are either enveloped in shadows or have a gun pointed in their faces. The women are even less regarded. – Robert Daniels, The Playlist

Is it a difficult watch at times ?

Cherry is dark, heavy stuff. The graphic violence of war and the raw and ugly reality of addiction make the film uncomfortable to watch at times. – Joey Morona, Cleveland Plain Dealer

Cherry is raw and difficult to watch at times but the result is a beautifully honest film that is well written and well-cast. – Allison Rose, FlickDirect

Nothing here feels as gritty as it should. There’s no stark realism, no raw honesty. Everything in  Cherry  is for show. Subtlety is for chumps. – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

It’s hard to shake the feeling that [the actors are] playing dress-up, a glossy  Riverdale  rendering of craving and codependence. – Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly

Does it ever lighten up ?

The most surprising thing about  Cherry , and its primary saving grace, is the humor that bleeds throughout it. – Spencer Perry, ComicBook.com

When Cherry robs banks, the banks have parody names like Capitalist One, Bank F—s America, Credit None, S–tty Bank, or even just The Bank. Ho ho ho, my sides, they’re splitting! Who are you to resist the unparalleled wit of  Cherry ? – Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm

There’s hardly a moment in Cherry that’s believable, but the film’s true crime is that there’s hardly a moment in it that’s enjoyable either. – Owen Gleiberman, Variety

Will you want to see it more than once ?

This movie will take you on an emotional, powerful journey over the course of 150 minutes you’ll want to relive. – Josh Wilding, ComicBookMovie.com

I will be watching this again. – Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky

Cherry  is in theaters on February 26, 2021 and on Apple TV+ on March 12, 2021.

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Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq - anchored only by his true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he stru... Read all Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq - anchored only by his true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he struggles to find his place in the world. Cherry drifts from college dropout to army medic in Iraq - anchored only by his true love, Emily. But after returning from the war with PTSD, his life spirals into drugs and crime as he struggles to find his place in the world.

• Anthony Russo
• Angela Russo-Otstot
• Jessica Goldberg
• Nico Walker
• Tom Holland
• Ciara Bravo
• Jack Reynor
• 539 User reviews
• 152 Critic reviews
• 44 Metascore
• 3 wins & 5 nominations

Top cast 99+

• Pills & Coke

• James Lightfoot

• Old Man Fatook

• (as Kyle Harvey)

• Cherry's Mom

• Cherry's Dad …

• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia The film is based on a novel of the same name by Nico Walker, an army veteran who suffered from PTSD. He created the character Cherry based on himself.
• Goofs Despite wearing E-3 (PFC) rank during the attack, Tom Holland's character is wearing E-2 (PVT2) during the medal ceremony and is called a "Specialist" (Which is E-4).

Cherry : Can you look back to when you met the one you love the most and remember exactly how it was?

Cherry : Not as in where you were or what she was wearing, but rather in what you saw in her that made you say, "Yes, this is what I came here for."

• Connections Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Tom Holland/Andra Day (2021)
• Soundtracks Brand New Day Written and Performed by Van Morrison Courtesy of Warner Records By arrangement with Warner Music Group Film & TV Licensing

User reviews 539

• gracerosadi
• Mar 14, 2021
• How long is Cherry? Powered by Alexa
• When will they release a teaser?
• March 12, 2021 (United States)
• United States
• Màu Đỏ Anh Đào
• AlUla, Saudi Arabia (location)
• The Hideaway Entertainment
• Kasbah Films
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $40,000,000 (estimated)

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 22 minutes
• Dolby Atmos

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‘Cherry’ Review: Tom Holland Acts Methodically in an Overblown Dud From the Russo Brothers

The 'Spider-Man' star plays a nowhere dude who falls in love, goes to war, and becomes a junkie bank robber.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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In “ Cherry ,” Tom Holland sports a buzzcut, dead eyes, and a skeevy complexion. In a look-at-my-badass-self reversal from the effusive heroics of the “Spider-Man” films, he plays an Iraq War veteran turned opioid addict turned heroin addict turned bank robber, and he looks zoned-out and strung-out, like Eminem as a fallen Eagle Scout. He gets the cold sweats, he weeps real tears and talks in a phlegmy voice, he contorts his face into a pale mask of pain, and at one point he rubs the top of his noggin and says, “I have this noise in my head… why can’t it stop?”  When his girlfriend, also a junkie, abandons him for a spell, he sits in his car and jabs a hypodermic needle into his thigh, over and over again, so that he’ll feel something .

Holland’s character is never named (he’s a real nowhere dude), and in theory it’s the sort of role you could imagine Sean Penn having taken on in the late ’80s or ’90s. Penn, addicted to edge, was always shoring up his Method mojo — and that, in an overblown corporate way, is the mission of “Cherry.” The movie is a double dose of brand extension. For Holland, the motivation is obvious: He’s proving that he’s not just a kid in a spandex suit, a lightweight “escapist” star — he can do the real-deal heavy stuff too. But “Cherry” is also a showy advertisement for its directors, Anthony and Joe Russo , the superstar superhero auteurs of the “Avengers” and “Captain America” films. In “Cherry,” they’re proving their dark-side-of-the-street cred.

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Except it all plays as a giant synthetic crock! “Cherry” is based on a semi-autobiographical 2018 novel by Nico Walker, a decorated U.S. Army veteran who served time in prison for bank robbery, and the book was celebrated as a gritty generational rallying cry. The Russo brothers, working in a style of troweled-on extravagance, inflate it into a showreel. They’re trying to think beyond Marvel and display their real-world chops, but what they demonstrate instead is that even with down-in-the-trenches material like this, they still think like fantasists. “Cherry” has the glossy inauthenticity of a bad Tony Scott movie. The Russos treat Walker’s novel as if it were a graphic novel — a layer cake of grunge that’s all frosting.

Popular on Variety

It starts off as a love story set in college, where Holland’s unnamed hero, a dweeb in glasses and floppy bangs, meets Emily (Ciara Bravo), who plays hard-to-get, then doesn’t, and then does again, saying that she’s heading off to school in Montreal (but only because she’s scared of how deep their love is). This leaves Holland so lost that he enlists in the Army, which allows the Russos to stage a basic-training sequence that’s like a film-brat knockoff of “Full Metal Jacket.” (It’s here that the movie calls Holland a “cherry.”) Then it’s off to the Iraq War, where the Russos can at least draw upon their action chops, staging battle with swooping camerawork and explosive grandiloquence, though this sequence, for all its spilled guts, feels no more authentic than the Vietnam of “Forrest Gump” did. In each case, it’s hard to shake the feeling that the filmmakers are restaging these wars to use them.

Back home (which, by the way, is Cleveland), Holland spirals into PTSD and Oxycontin addiction. He has night panics (“I didn’t sleep. And when I did I dreamt of violence”), and at one point he takes Emily to the theater and yells at someone for wearing an L.L. Bean jacket instead of dressing up (making you wonder whether this is PTSD or “Project Runway”). Yet despite the bad behavior clichés, combat doesn’t seem to have altered him internally.

The problem with “Cherry” is that the movie presents itself as a dread-ridden slice of life, yet almost every moment in it feels based not on experience but on the experience of other movies. The Russos lift flourishes out of everything from “Natural Born Killers” to “Far From Heaven” to Wes Anderson, and they mix in slow motion and bits of opera, with sounds magnified and stylized, and images highlighted with a kind of ’80s music-video cut-in “significance.” Yet they never convince us of the organic truth of the story they’re telling. Holland’s nonstop voiceover narration (“I’m 23 years old and I still don’t understand what it is that people do. It’s as if all of this were built on nothing and nothing were holding all of this together”) indicates how the filmmakers don’t trust the material to take on a life of its own. Instead, every scene says, “Look at the cool way we’re illustrating this!”

Tom Holland isn’t a bad actor, and in “Cherry” he proves his skill set. He touches an array of dissolute looks and moods. Yet there’s no real danger to him. (That’s the difference between a Marvel good boy and a Sean Penn bad boy.) “Cherry,” after dithering around, does find a semblance of over-the-top coherence in its second half, when it turns into a drama of two junkies spiraling into the abyss. It’s like seeing “Sid and Nancy” as a middle-class doomfest staged in the style of “Top Gun.” Holland’s character isn’t just a hopeless addict, he’s a colossally stupid and self-destructive addict. Asked to safeguard a drug dealer’s portable safe, he and Emily end up blasting it open and stealing the small mountain of drugs inside. Why do they do it? So the film can get off on their boneheaded masochistic extravagance.

And I haven’t even talked about the bank robberies! Robbers tend to wear masks, and have plans, because there are these things called surveillance cameras, and also police, that have a way of intruding on the success of crime. But in “Cherry,” Holland just wanders into one Cleveland bank after the next, with no disguise, waving his gun, carrying on weirdly friendly conversations with the tellers (who are all women) as they hand over stacks of bills. And then…nothing. No police pursuit, no repercussions. We realize, of course, that it can’t last, but we also realize, with a sinking feeling, that the Russos must now think they’re making a Tarantino movie. Nope. Not even close. There’s hardly a moment in “Cherry” that’s believable, but the film’s true crime is that there’s hardly a moment in it that’s enjoyable either. The only emotion the movie conveys is being full of itself.

Reviewed online, Feb. 21, 2021. MPAA Rating: R. Running time: 140 MIN.

• Production: An Apple TV Plus release of an Apple Original Films, The Hideaway Entertainment, AGBO production, in association with Endeavor Content. Producers: Joe Russo, Anthony Russo, Mike Larocca, Jonathan Gray, Matthew Rhodes, Jake Aust, Chris Castaldi. Executive producers: Kristy Grisham, Judd Payne, Wang Zhongjun, Wang Zhonglei, Edward Cheng, Patrick Newall, Angela Russo-Otstot, Todd Makurath, Dan Kaplow, Nico Walker, Matthew Johnson.
• Crew: Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo. Screenplay: Angela Russo-Otstot, Jessica Goldberg. Camera: Newton Thomas Sigel. Editor: Jeff Groth. Music: Henry Jackman.
• With: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg, Forrest Goodluck, Michael Gandolfini.

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Apple TV's Cherry Reviews Are In, Here's What Critics Are Saying About Tom Holland And The Russo's New Movie

Tom Holland and the Russo brothers have teamed up once again, but this time it's not for a superhero movie. No, Cherry is very different than their MCU ventures.

Cherry stars Tom Holland as a former army medic who gets hooked on opioids to deal with his PTSD, and begins robbing banks to support his habit. Cherry is definitely a departure from the star's role as Spider-Man. It's directed by Joe and Anthony Russo , who have established themselves as legends of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, directing several of the most successful Marvel films, including Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame . Those two films also happen to be two of the highest grossing films of all time, which might have had a little something to do with how they made Cherry . The new movie also stars Ciara Bravo and Jack Reynor.

Cherry debuts in select theaters on February 26, and arrives on AppleTV+ on March 12. While you wait to see the film either in a theater or on the streaming service, check out what critics have said so far about the movie.

CinemaBlend’s own Sean O’Connell saw Cherry , and was impressed, rating the film a four out of five stars. He noted Tom Holland’s impressive range while also remarking on Ciara Bravo’s “compelling” performance. He said:

It’s easy to understand why the Russos leaned on Holland to play their lead role in this difficult adaptation, because the actor’s now known for making exaggerated characters seem believable. The end result is a tour de force for Holland, his courageous co-star Ciara Bravo, and for the Russos, who break free from the invisible limitations that success in the comic-book genre can apply.

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter was not as impressed with Cherry . He calls the cast “capable,” but heavily criticizes the Russo brothers' direction. He points out that visual impact constantly drowns out any actual emotional involvement, noting that it’s hard to get invested in any of the characters. He says:

Basically a two hour-plus marriage of dirty-realist misery porn with flashy technique followed by five minutes of the most clichéd and unearned redemption, this grandiose misfire does nothing to advance Apple TV+'s footprint in the original film arena.

David Ehrlich from IndieWire also heavily criticized the film, calling it a “scuzzy, interminable, and misjudged adaptation of (Nico) Walker’s life story.” He also calls Tom Holland “miscast,” and though Ehrlich does commend Holland’s commitment, he notes:

Fresh-faced Tom Holland — despite his admirable commitment to the bit — radiates so much friendly neighborhood sincerity that he can only wear his character’s indifference like it’s just another mask.

The harsh criticism seems to be a common theme. Though Owen Gleiberman of Variety does note that Tom Holland proves his skill set and wide range in Cherry , he says “there’s no real danger to him.” He calls the movie “inauthentic,” and criticizes the Russo brothers for trying too hard to prove that they can direct more than superhero movies. He says:

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For Holland, the motivation is obvious: He’s proving that he’s not just a kid in a spandex suit, a lightweight “escapist” star — he can do the real-deal heavy stuff too. But Cherry is also a showy advertisement for its directors, Anthony and Joe Russo, the superstar superhero auteurs of the Avengers and Captain America films. In Cherry, they’re proving their dark-side-of-the-street cred.

Alonso Duralde of The Wrap commends Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, and Jack Reynor for making the most of what they were given. He applauds the moments of emotional honesty in the film, such as Holland’s call home from Iraq after his friend’s death, calling it “tough and powerful to witness.” But Duralde is also frustrated with the Russo brothers’ storytelling, noting that they used addiction not “as a source of drama, character, or commentary, but more as a chance to gawk at tragedy.” Duralde commented:

As a showcase for Holland, Cherry absolutely offers the chance to stretch and expand his talents to places that the Spider-Man franchise would never allow. Beyond that, however, this is a distressingly familiar tale of trauma and addiction that often plays like a cover version of older, better movies about war and drugs.

That older, better movies theme was also picked up on in the review from What To Watch. Author Leigh Monson argued the film takes inspiration from a ton of different places but never is able to mesh them together into anything that's satisfying or consistent. Here's an excerpt of the review...

Cherry takes inspirations from Fight Club, Full Metal Jacket, Jarhead, and Requiem For A Dream to put them in a blender for a punishing two hours and twenty minutes, but instead of congealing into a satisfying whole, they simply create sequential layers of clashing flavors that make you want to lie down from the effort of chugging it all in one sitting.

On the whole, most critics seem to have more issues with Cherry than positive things to say about it, but audiences will have the chance to see for themselves when the movie opens in theaters on February 26 and is made available streaming on AppleTV+ starting March 12. In the meantime, you can check out other movies coming up this year on our 2021 Release Calendar, and also start mentally preparing for the recently-titled (for real) Spider-Man: No Way Home , which sees Tom Holland return as our friendly neighborhood web-slinger and will be in theaters at the end of the year.

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THE MOVIE CULTURE

Cherry Movie Review & Film Summary: Tom Holland Carries This Thriller

Cherry is a portrayal of a PTSD victim, directed by The Russo Brothers. It follows a person through love, war and addiction and tries to bring out the reality of it all. It is streaming on Apple TV+.

Cherry Movie Cast

• Tom Holland as Nico Walker
• Ciara Bravo as Emily
• Jack Reynor as Coke
• Forrest Goodluck as James Lightfoot

Cherry Movie Plot

Nico, a young adult, falls in love with Emily. Yet when he learns that she is leaving him to pursue her education, he takes an impulsive decision and joins the army. From then, his life takes a U turn and he is dumped into the ditch of Drug Abuse and Debt. 

Cherry Movie Review

Cherry is a crime thriller by Anthony and Joe Russo. It follows a War victim and his troubles with drugs, money and violence. Tom Holland is the person who solely carries this film into what it becomes. Not even the Russo Brothers, the duo behind Avengers Endgame, could keep this boat afloat. It’s all about character progression yet there are some real continuity issues with the movie which are hard to ignore.

It begins with Nico, who is a normal teenager with minor drug issues and no future goals. He sets his eyes on this girl, Emily (Played by Ciara Bravo), and falls for her in an instant. Cut to some days later, he talks to her and finally develops a bond. Nico is often angry at times. His, usually level headed state, goes haywire when things start to collapse around him. One such instance takes place when Emily tells him that she is leaving for Montreal to pursue her studies. Absolutely devastated and left with nothing keeping him in Cleveland, Nico joins the army. And from there on, begins his collapse. 

Cherry Movie: Oozing with style yet not so much with substance

Let’s first talk about the aspects of this movie which were actually done very well, Cinematography being one of them. The Russo Brothers have a very unique and sublime point of view for this movie. The scenes ooze with grim, eerily realistic colors. Character conversations block all the other population present in the scene. When I see Nico and Emily talking in the college premises, the camera straight up blurs the people walking behind them.

The makers, in a way, depict that they are trying to tell a deeply personal story (also loosely based on real life). It’s filled with references and names which are Meta in nature. The banks are called, well, “The Bank”. With each setback in the story, the bank keeps getting messier in nature, denoted by its name “Sh*ty Bank”. Even the doctors are complete strangers with names like “Mr Whomever”, playing in on the fact that the viewer needn’t worry about anyone who isn’t integral to the main progression of the story. Its hazy, colorful and surprisingly different from anything The Russo Brothers have done before in the near past. 

Cherry Movie: Tom Holland and his capabilities as an Actor

Tom Holland is the breakthrough star of Cherry. After having worked with Russo Brothers as Spiderman, we all were somewhat curious about the acting capabilities of this guy who, out of nowhere, put on that spandex suit. He sure gives everything that he has got into this film. If I were to summarize this movie in three words, I would essentially put it as “A Tom Holland Film”.

Well 4 words but you get the gist. He has this profound and varied range of emotions and expressions for each scene which justify his success in the MCU and in the industry in general. His angry boyish phase switches into a deranged PTSD phase who just went through war, pretty quickly. Yet I only felt the utmost empathy for this character. He has got so much to do and he doesn’t shy away from the fact that this role is miles away from how people perceive him as an actor. His thirst for branching out and trying new stuff is, however, overshadowed by elements which should be gripping, but they unfortunately aren’t.

Cherry Movie: A drug abuse story, disguised as PTSD

Even with a person who has essentially lived through some of the most trying times in his life, this movie feels ridiculously bland, especially in its later stages. The romance between Nico and Emily which takes too long to develop in the first place, is brought to a halt when she suddenly desires to get away from him. Her intentions behind this decision are never fully explored and the viewers are mostly left wondering about these certain decisions which are plentiful during the runtime. The entire depiction of the war and Nico’s involvement in it was one of the most well done aspects of this film. Its expansive and glorious in its setting and I think it should be safe to assume that a lot of the budget went into filming that sequence, and it was well worth the spend. However, after that the plot takes a wild turn, shuffling from PTSD to Drug addiction in no time at all. Nico’s struggles with war and PTSD are never given time to breath, and he almost quickly switches to drugs for relief. The term PTSD is frequently mentioned throughout the script to remind viewers that Nico is a victim, but other than that, Cherry feels more like a depiction of a drug addict than of a war victim. 

The Robberies take place in a series of convenient banks, throwing money at Nico, for which the repercussions couldn’t be anymore delayed. The romance, which started off slow, also takes a funky turn in no time when Emily decides to hop on the “dope train” as well. This again is something which felt freakishly sudden. Cherry, still manages to portray the aspect of deterioration and decline in a fair manner. It, while never openly being a satire, brings out the horrors faced by army men who have been through so much, only to go through so much more. It is a mix of aspects which are done right, overshadowed by weak and under-developed side characters and plot. Pacing issues are persistent through the run time, yet the climax and the epilogue, somehow, still binds the entire premise together. Its a fairly nice watch, yet I feel like Tom Holland deserved a far better outcome for all the hard work and dedication he put into Cherry.

Cherry Movie Critical Reception

Cherry stands at a mere 37% on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus being “It’s certainly stylish and it offers Tom Holland a welcome opportunity to branch out, but Cherry’s woes stem from a story that’s too formulaic to bowl anyone over.” The Metascore is at 44 with mixed or average reviews based on 43 critic reviews.

The Movie Culture Synopsis

Cherry is a vibrant visual spectacle, while simultaneously filled with glaring pacing issues and derivative crime sequences. It doesn’t have anything new to offer, yet it shines solely by the presence of Tom Holland . It might be a good one time watch for many, but a second viewing would be far too dozy. 

Cherry is an  Apple original  film available on Apple TV+ to watch.

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‘Cherry’ is the Pits

The Russo Brothers follow up their Avengers movies with an art film starring Tom Holland as a heroin-addicted veteran with PTSD

How do you follow up the highest-grossing movie in the world ? If you’re Anthony and Joe Russo, you do it with a hard-R pivot away from family-friendly action blockbusters and tell a darker story to prove you’re serious filmmakers. Even better: get one of your teen-throb superhero actors like Tom Holland to join you. So if the eagerly outré Cherry feels a bit extra , it’s probably because of all the overcompensation. Sure, Avengers: Endgame might be a hard act to follow. But do we really need to see a drooling Spider-Man shoot heroin into his ankle?

CHERRY ★ (1/5 stars) Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Written by: Angela Russo-Otstot, Jessica Goldberg Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor Running time: 140 min

Holland headlines as the eponymous antihero, a soft-headed young man who falls in love, gets his heart broken, joins the army, gets his ass kicked, then comes home and starts robbing banks to support a PTSD-triggered opioid addition. It’s based on a well-reviewed picaresque autobiography by Nico Walker that sours the American Dream into a harrowing tragedy. I haven’t read the book, but I can say with certainty that the Russo brothers have done everything possible to tell this story with almost no originality. Sucks that a real-life PTSD-addled junkie vet is now reduced to slo-mo camera moves, classic rock needle drops and the occasional opera cue, all cribbed right from a wannabe-Scorsese handbook.

Cherry is broken up into different sections, like book chapters, using big white on-screen text over blood-red monochromatic backgrounds for self-evident announcements like “BASIC” when Cherry goes to basic training; “HOME” when he goes back home; and “DOPE LIFE” when he sinks into a life of dope. Thanks, self-evident announcements!

Also struggling to dispel confusion: Cherry’s logorrheic voiceover, which overexplains and yet under-illuminates every plot point. The actual dialogue isn’t much better. “Sometimes I feel like love doesn’t really exist,” sighs Emily (Ciara Bravo), Cherry’s girlfriend and eventual wife. Deep. “While you do this,” I’m gonna do that” is another actual line from the movie. So is: “Oh, no! Fuck shit, shit fuck.” There’s a lot of foul language throughout. Because fuck that Marvel shit! This is fucking art!

Along with the cascade of curses is a nonstop barrage of overcranked Steadicam shots and an overindulgence of shallow wide-angle lenses. The Russos do not like an idle image. They do seem overly fond of Scorsese, though. At least when they’re not ripping off Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket for Cherry’s military training . The Russos also change the aspect ratio for these scenes, because this is their art film.

Did I mention we see the world through Tom Holland’s asshole? A colonic view of the world is part of the medical checkup scene. This seems to signal a cheeky swivel towards satire, which comes intermittently and with little explanation. Back in the states, a discharged and distraught Cherry sees a “Dr. Whomever” for his PTSD. That’s what it says on the physician’s clothing and desk plate, which the camera barely shows. It’s a blink-and-you-miss-it lark. Not sure why it’s played so coy. More obvious rib-ticklers are the targets of Cherry’s grand larceny. He’s robbing places like Shittybank, Capitalist One, and Bank Fucks America. Funny, but random, appearing late in the film and not developed beyond more than just a sight gag.

That toss-off aesthetic is on-brand for the handsomely lensed and expensive-looking film, a semi-schizophrenic grab-bag that wants to be a semisweet romance, veers into antiwar territory, becomes a cautionary tale of addition and then becomes a jokey crime flick. Shorthand character development abounds, in lieu of actual human insight. “I never saw him again,” says Cherry about an unremarkable peripheral character. Poignant? Not so much. The central relationship is even worse: Cherry and Emily mostly express devotion by crying and hugging each other a lot. Does Emily O.D.? Spoiler alert: of course, and you won’t care either.

Cherry’s bloated running time doesn’t help matters, as it keeps spinning its wheels while stylistically copycatting more interesting war movies and addict films and love stories. There’s a flop-sweat sensibility to the proceedings, like treading water when you can’t really swim. Aspiring auteurs really shouldn’t look so thirsty. Or so sloppy.

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Stephen Garrett

Stephen Garrett is the former film editor of 'Time Out New York’ and has written about the movie industry for more than 20 years. A Rotten Tomatoes certified reviewer, Garrett is also the founder of Jump Cut, a marketing company that creates trailers and posters for independent, foreign-language, and documentary films.

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Home » Movie News » Cherry (Movie review) with Tom Holland

Cherry (Movie review) with Tom Holland

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

PLOT: A young man (Tom Holland) comes home from the War in Iraq with a severe case of PTSD. He and his young wife (Ciara Bravo) quickly get addicted to opiates, and he starts robbing banks to feed their habit.

REVIEW: Cherry has all the subtlety of a jackhammer, something which I’m sure is feeding into its so-far largely negative reactions from critics. Anthony and Joe Russo’s first film since Avengers: Endgame , the two boldly adopt an operatic vibe in their adaptation of Nico Walker’s semi-autobiographical novel. A real-life war vet who became addicted to drugs and robbed banks, just like his on-screen alter-ego, as played by Tom Holland, his story is turned into a 2.5-hour epic by the Russos', who seem to be relishing their detour into hardcore R-rated territory.

If Captain America: The Winter Soldier was their tribute to seventies paranoia thrillers, Cherry is their tribute to nineties crime epics by Martin Scorsese and Brian DePalma, specifically the final act of Goodfellas’ (charting Henry Hill’s spiral into addiction) and Carlito’s Way (with one of the film’s signature musical choices – “Watusi” showing up in a pivotal scene). It’s a heavy movie, but also a very entertaining one, which features a terrific star turn from Tom Holland.

Young and vulnerable looking, Holland is no one’s idea of a classic Hollywood tough guy (although he can indeed be tough – check him out in The Devil All the Time ), something which makes his character all the more compelling. He’s delicate and you worry about him. He has a similar vibe to a young Michael J. Fox (particularly in heavier stuff like Casualties of War and Bright Lights, Big City ), and is convincing both as a naive young college drop-out, a war medic in way over his head, and an eventual junkie criminal.

Notably, the film never expects you to sympathize too much with his plight, specifically once he becomes a bank robber, which stems from a boneheaded decision he makes to rip-off the dealer who’s fronting him (Jack Reynor as a character appropriately named Pills and Coke). You get the idea he’s a total mess and utterly doomed, and Holland never plays him as too noble or conventional.

If the movie has a failing, and it's a pretty big one, his relationship with Ciara Bravo’s Emily rings hollow. His ever-present voice-over tells you over and over again that these two are in love and meant to be together, but they never come off as anything more than a desperate couple that are terrible for each other, making the movie’s big, over-wrought climax nearly laughable, although it's redeemed by Holland's acting

The Russos' also fall prey to what’s quickly becoming a big cliche – shifting aspect ratios – with the Iraq scenes shot in a window-boxed format. The war scenes are startling, however, with the Russos' driving home the terror of war, with Holland making lots of appealing friends who, in the blink of an eye, die horrible on-screen deaths that are shattering.

Technically, the film is impeccable, with the Russos' giving it an epic feel – perhaps too much so as in the end they’re telling a gritty, personal story which occasionally gets lost in all of the style. At its best, it's riveting, with a terrific score by Henry Jackman and Holland’s performance anchoring the film. At its worst, it's a touch over-wrought, such as in the hugely inconsistent first act. The movie only comes into its own once our anti-hero goes to war. Still, I have to bristle at the relish some seem to be attacking this with, as the Russo Bros have been so successful with Marvel it feels like some seem bent on taking them down a notch rather than giving the film a fair assessment. Is it a perfect film? No, but it’s far better than some will have you believe.

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About the Author

Chris Bumbray began his career with JoBlo as the resident film critic (and James Bond expert) way back in 2007, and he has stuck around ever since, being named editor-in-chief in 2021. A voting member of the CCA and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, you can also catch Chris discussing pop culture regularly on CTV News Channel.

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‘Cherry’ Review: A Very Different Tangled Web for Tom Holland

Joe and Anthony Russo, the M.C.U. filmmaking brothers, stretch out into the real world of war, crime and addiction in a gritty drama based on a best-selling novel.

• Share full article

By Glenn Kenny

A couple of years back, when Martin Scorsese dared to say he didn’t care for superhero movies — “that’s not cinema,” he said — two successful directors in that field, the brothers Joe and Anthony Russo, took a swipe at the older filmmaker. “At the end of the day, what do we know?” Joe said in an interview . “We’re just two guys from Cleveland, Ohio, and ‘cinema’ is a New York word.”

Yet, from the evidence of their latest movie, “Cherry,” the Russos seem interested in making something akin to Scorsese cinema. A song by Van Morrison, a Scorsese favorite, plays over this movie’s opening credits, and other Morrison songs adorn its soundtrack. The protagonist is introduced as a young, alienated, fast-walking white man with a close-cropped haircut and a gun. Drug addiction figures in the action, and the action is often captured with involved camerawork. Hmm.

Adapted from a semi-autobiographical novel by Nico Walker, “Cherry” follows its title character (Tom Holland) from a collegiate romantic obsession to his time as a soldier in Iraq and a bank robber feeding the opioid monkey on his back. “I’m 23 years old, and I still don’t understand what people do,” Cherry says in voice-over early on.

Whether they’re comfortable owning up to it or not, the Russos are better moviemakers than their Marvel movies (the most recent of which was the gargantuan hit “Avengers: Endgame” ) allow them to be. They demonstrate that here. Holland, also a veteran of the superhero mode of cinema (he’s Spider-Man these days) shows performing chops that web-slinging doesn’t often let him flex.

Being “two guys from Cleveland” works to the filmmakers’ advantage, as at least some of the home-front action is set and was shot in Cleveland Heights . The Russos understand the territory and shoot it knowingly, only rarely indulging in the Hollywood tendency to fetishize abandoned heartland American factories.

They do less well when Cherry enters basic training: The directors change the aspect ratio and, in essence, offer up a condensed remake of the first third of Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket.”

The Iraq sequences are more impressive. The sere, desolate chaos of military maneuvers is well conveyed, as is the confusion of Cherry’s character.

Eventually “Cherry” breaks free enough of its influences to present a credible, at times harrowing, American addiction tragedy. Ciara Bravo, as Cherry’s girlfriend, wife and eventual partner in junkie-dom, is at times the performer who has the strongest emotional hold on the viewer, and the most memorable find here.

Cherry Rated R for language and violence. Running time: 2 hours 20 minutes. In theaters and on Apple TV+ March 12. Please consult the guidelines outlined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before watching movies inside theaters.

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Cherry review: Tom Holland robs banks in this brash, angry crime drama

‘avengers: endgame’ directors anthony and joe russo step so outside of their comfort zone that they actively neglect their individual talents, article bookmarked.

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Dir: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo. Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg. 18, 141 mins

Nobody wants to be put in a box. And so it’s easiest to think of Cherry – the gritty new drama from Avengers: Endgame ’s Joe and Anthony Russo , starring the current Spider-Man, Tom Holland – as a form of personal rebellion. Here are three men gobbled up into entertainment’s largest and most ravenous creative belly. If they ever want to escape, drastic action is needed. Cherry – brash, angry, and loud – feels like an overcompensation. It’s so outside of their comfort zone that it actively neglects their individual talents.

The Russos don’t just helm blockbusters (they’re also behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier , Captain America: Civil War , and Avengers: Infinity War ) – they have a long history in network comedy. They’ve worked as both directors and producers on Arrested Development , Community , and Happy Endings . Here, they’ve adapted the striking, semi-fictionalised autobiography of Nico Walker, who served on more than 250 combat missions as an Army medic in Iraq, was left with debilitating PTSD, and went on to rob 11 banks over a four-month period in order to fuel his drug addiction.

His words have a raw, searing quality to them, as if they’re all gushing out from an open wound. And the book was a hit – treated by Americans as a much-needed personal perspective on the opioid epidemic and the continuing social neglect of veterans. But it’s hard to believe that the Russos’ creative energies were fully invested in the political urgency behind Walker’s story. Seemingly unable to shake off old habits, they’ve stuffed their film with bizarre Easter eggs and visual gags. The places our unnamed protagonist (Holland) robs are called things like “S****y Bank” and “Bank F*** America”.

The directors never go so far as to treat Walker’s experiences as a joke, but they’ve clearly relished the opportunity – unchained from the relative monotheism of Marvel – to flex their stylistic muscles. Cherry is a true rogue’s gallery of cinematic tricks: slo-mo, voiceover narration, freeze-frames, fourth-wall breaks, shifting colour palettes, montages, and overhead shots. It attempts at times to consciously tie the film to Martin Scorsese’s work. But the long takes and studied compositions of Goodfellas told a rich, complex story of their own – here, the flourishes are merely flourishes. There’s nothing exactly to be gained from the words “COCK HOLSTER” and “DICK EARS” flashing up on screen in garish red titles as they’re being yelled out by drill sergeants.

A handful of cutaways to the protagonist’s wife, dream girl, and fellow addict Emily (Ciara Bravo) standing in an abstract, stage-like space with a black eye is all her character gets in terms of backstory. She’s otherwise treated as “the Madonna” to an ex-girlfriend’s “whore” (Kelli Berglund) – a character whose entire onscreen role consists of her supposedly dancing too provocatively and acting too friendly towards other men.

The screenplay by Angela Russo-Otstot (sister to the Russos) and Jessica Goldberg never treats the protagonist’s possessiveness as a flaw or mark on his saintly record, but presents him as some broad, shapeless vessel of bruised masculinity. And while Holland may never hit a false note, there’s an odd, underlying strain to his performance – as if the natural charisma that made him a deeply likeable superhero has been pushed beneath the surface, screaming for air. And for what? Does the ability to rage and swear make him a more talented actor than before? Cherry makes you wonder what he, and the Russos, think they have to prove.

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'Cherry' Review Thread

Rotten Tomatoes : 35% (79 reviews) with 5.20 in average rating

Critics consensus: It's certainly stylish and it offers Tom Holland a welcome opportunity to branch out, but Cherry's woes stem from a story that's too formulaic to bowl anyone over.

Metacritic : 46/100 (29 critics)

As with other movies, the scores are set to change as time passes. Meanwhile, I'll post some short reviews on the movie.

Walker's story no doubt is grounded in a very real milieu that reflects the grim existence of countless Americans returning from active duty to a country blighted by economic downturn, shrinking opportunity and substance abuse. But the only reality Cherry reflects with numbing insistence is that of co-directors getting high on their own high style.

- David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter

There are a few small pockets of air along the way, but “Cherry” has no way of getting you to care about someone who hardly seems to care about himself. Its protagonist is like a Plinko chip getting bounced from one American disaster to the next and scrambling for any kind of agency he can find as he falls towards rock bottom. At the end of the day, his only available recourse is to sit down on the side of the road and decide that he just doesn’t want to be in this movie anymore. Don’t sweat it, Cherry.

- David Ehrlich, IndieWire : D

The Russo brothers, working in a style of troweled-on extravagance, inflate it into a showreel. They’re trying to think beyond Marvel and display their real-world chops, but what they demonstrate instead is that even with down-in-the-trenches material like this, they still think like fantasists. “Cherry” has the glossy inauthenticity of a bad Tony Scott movie. The Russos treat Walker’s novel as if it were a graphic novel — a layer cake of grunge that’s all frosting.

- Owen Gleiberman, Variety

You’d think a tenure on some of TV’s most post-modern comedies would, at the very least, give the Russo brothers a more pronounced self-awareness about the line separating seriousness from mere pretensions to it. “Community” couldn’t parody this movie better than it parodies itself.

- A.A. Dowd, The A.V. Club : D

These moments of emotional honesty aren’t enough to give “Cherry” the resonance that these situations deserve. From its facile depiction of the role of incarceration in the rehab process — addiction is a health issue that we keep mistakenly treating as a criminal issue — to the under-writing of the characters, what should be a harrowing drama instead comes off as an anti-drug pamphlet.

- Alonso Duralde, The Wrap

Cherry is not an easy film, and I admire the Russos for trying to take on material that’s drastically different from everything else in their filmography. But Cherry is a movie that quickly gets away from them, and the result feels disrespectful to the subject matter it seeks to explore. We do need to examine the myriad of ways America has failed in the 21st century, but doing it with stylish camera tricks, changing aspect ratios, etc. has to be in service to strengthening the story, not an end in and of itself.

- Matt Goldberg, Collider : D-

There’s much to chew on in Cherry, and not all of it works. But a never-better performance from Tom Holland, and some bold directorial choices, make it a mostly compelling watch.

- John Nugent, Empire : 3/5

“Cherry” is at times almost overwhelming in its raw and real depiction of addiction and how it can destroy lives, but also chill-inducing with its promise of a possible lasting light at the end of the tunnel.

- Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun Times : 3.5/4

If the Russo brothers are totally interested in the opioid crisis, shouldn’t the aftermath of addiction have a foothold as the absurdist flashy war sequences or the gawking scenes of drug-taking? These stories need less Hollywood, and more clear-eyed recognition of the real people at the heart of this crisis. As for Russo brothers’ “Cherry,” it doesn’t succeed as a war film, as a heist flick, or the star vehicle it so craves to be for Holland. It’s just average at its core.

- Robert Daniels, The Playlist : C

As the story pings and ricochets through the last increasingly unhinged hour of its 140-minute run time, the chaos feels like a fitting parallel, maybe, for its protagonist's state of mind. For all the frenzied action of the final scenes though, there's an airless, overwrought sense of diminishing returns; and that's a comedown we've seen too many times before.

- Leah Greenblatt, Entertainment Weekly : C

An Army medic suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder becomes a serial bank robber after an addiction to drugs puts him in debt. Based on Nico Walker's semi-autobiographical novel.

Anthony Russo & Joe Russo

Angela Russo-Otstot & Jessica Goldberg

Henry Jackman

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Newton Thomas Siegel

Release date:

February 26, 2021 (select theaters)

March 12, 2021 (Apple TV+)

Tom Holland as Cherry

Ciara Bravo as Emily

Jack Reynor as Pills and Coke

Michael Rispoli as Tommy

Jeff Wahlberg as Jimenez

Forrest Goodluck as James Lightfoot

Michael Gandolfini as Cousin Joe

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, black writers week.

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When you hear the premise of Josh Margolin ’s feature debut, “Thelma,” you may think you know what the movie will be. Clearly modeled on his own family (the dedication at the close of the film is “for Thelma,” which suggests he didn’t even change the heroine’s name from that of his real-life grandmother), “Thelma” is a young filmmaker’s touching and funny tribute to the olds. 

The film immediately establishes the uniquely strong bond between 93-year-old Thelma ( June Squibb ) and her Gen Z grandson Daniel ( Fred Hechinger ), an affable slacker. Squibb and Hechinger beautifully play this opening sequence, creating a believably deep intergenerational bond without overplaying it or dropping a lot of exposition. Cinema usually only gives us such scenes when the grandchild is a child, not 24, which is a shame because the intergenerational bond between a person in new adulthood and someone who is a veteran sets up a lot of interesting dynamics. 

The film tackles just that by making it clear that Thelma and Daniel have a common problem: they're infantilized, chiefly by Daniel’s parents, Thelma’s daughter Gail ( Parker Posey ) and husband Alan ( Clark Gregg ). We are introduced to the couple during their busy respective workdays, which prevents them from answering Thelma's frantic calls. As a result, she gets taken by a telephone scam that costs her $10,000. 

“Thelma” sensitively portrays the humiliation of this swindle and the way it forces Gail and Alan to wonder if the time has come to put Thelma in a home. But Thelma has another idea: she decides to get her money back.  

“Thelma” was written, directed, and edited by Josh Margolin, who only has one other directing credit (a comedy short) and comes from the improv comedy world—his comedy background shows. Thelma may not move so quickly anymore, but Margolin’s camera frequently does. And his editing has a sharp sense of comic timing. A running joke in the film is the way it stylistically imitates “ Mission: Impossible " (Thelma is watching Cruise sprint across a European rooftop, and it later inspires her to action), except here, the impossible mission may involve getting off the floor after a fall. The joke is melancholy when you consider the entire “Mission: Impossible” franchise as Cruise’s offensive against the inevitability of aging. 

Thelma’s unlikely accomplice is Ben ( Richard Roundtree ), a widower and old acquaintance whom she finds a bore—that is, until she needs his cherry red two-seater scooter. Roundtree, in his final appearance in a feature film before his death last fall at age 81, resists the urge to parody his iconic John Shaft or allude to the character whatsoever—a testament to Margolin's restraint. After all, I'm sure the temptation was there. Instead, Roundtree plays a complete person and draws on a range he was far too seldom called upon to tap into. It’s a lovely performance and a moving farewell.

But needless to say, the whole film rests on June Squibb's shoulders. She brings to the part 78 years of acting experience, which is a joy to watch. Her Thelma is no saint; she is not a fount of wisdom, nor is she the kind of hacky, wacky, Funny Old Lady that was so popular in the films of my youth. Best not to say much about the final act aside from mentioning that her adversary is played by Malcolm McDowell , who manages to make his villain both funny, sad, and just a little frightening in his ruthlessness. Thelma makes questionable choices in her action-packed journey, but her refusal to give up her independence or be a victim ultimately makes her as heroic as a younger man jumping from one rooftop to another just to show us he can. 

Brandon David Wilson

Brandon Wilson is a filmmaker, film writer, and lecturer.

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Thelma (2024)

June Squibb as Thelma

Fred Hechinger as Daniel

Richard Roundtree as Ben

Parker Posey as Gail

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• Josh Margolin

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Cherry Movie

Who's Involved:

Angela Nicholas, Alex Trewhitt, Hannah Alline, Melinda DeKay, Joe Sachem, Dan Schultz, Sandy Duarte, Alice Bang, Sophie Galibert

Release Date:

Friday, April 14, 2023 Limited

Plot: What's the story about?

A driftless and uncommitted 25-year-old in Los Angeles discovers she has only 24 hours to make one of the most consequential decisions of her life, what to do about an unplanned pregnancy. Fired from her menial job at a costume shop, she putters around town, looking for insight from her boyfriend, friends, & family. Instead, she is constantly challenged and confronted with what it looks like to finally face adulthood and how others view her as constantly running away from it.

5.00 / 5 stars ( 1 users)

Poll: Will you see Cherry?

Who stars in Cherry: Cast List

Alex Trewhitt

Dan Schultz

Sandy Duarte

Hannah Alline

Melinda DeKay

The Jessica Cabin  

Angela Nicholas

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Who's making Cherry: Crew List

A look at the Cherry behind-the-scenes crew and production team.

Sophie Galibert

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Production: what we know about cherry, filming timeline.

• 2023 - March : The film was set to Completed  status.

Cherry Release Date: When was the film released?

Cherry was a Limited release in 2023 on Friday, April 14, 2023 . There were 18 other movies released on the same date, including The Pope’s Exorcist , Renfield and Mafia Mamma . As a Limited release, Cherry will only be shown in select movie theaters across major markets. Please check Fandango and Atom Tickets to see if the film is playing in your area.

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Cherry has generated a lot of negative buzz before its release on Apple+ TV. Helmed by the Russo brothers and inspired by Nico Walker's semi-autobiographical 2018 novel of the same name, Cherry follows Tom Holland 's character transformation from Army medic to a drug-addicted bank robber. Despite the Marvel actor's star powers, a majority of critical reviews say the film is too bleak and unoriginal to satisfy most viewers.

Cherry features Holland as an Iraq war veteran suffering from PTSD and drug addiction. He enlists in the Army after the flames of his first love fizzle out and returns a hardened man. In order to pay for opiates, he starts robbing banks. This triggers him to fall deeper into depression alongside his college girlfriend, who drops into his addiction just as hard, if not harder.

Related: Coming 2 America: Why The Reviews Are So Negative

Currently,  Cherry 's Tomatometer sits at 40% over on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences seem to be enjoying it more than critics, as that score is 76%. Many critics cite that Cherry exists to demonstrate Holland's acting chops and the Russos' directing abilities beyond the Marvel brand . While this is a chance for them to explore other genres outside of the MCU franchise, critical opinion deems Cherry  too formulaic to have it stand it out from other war veteran movies. Tom Holland delivers a solid performance, but the flashy extravagance seems very self-indulgent and favors style over substance. That being said, let's take a look at the top critical reviews for Cherry .

The Wall Street Journal :

No one in it is likable, let alone endearing or lovable. And nothing is understated, ever ever ever. Economists may disagree on the threat of inflation, but it’s the curse of this madly overwrought film, which attempts to inflate a gritty novel about the horrors of war and opioid addiction into the epic journey of a troubled soul from alienation through nihilism to salvation.

The Hollywood Reporter :

But none of the tricksy visuals or ostentatious embellishments, like profane insults splashed across the screen in blood-red text, make you care about the characters. Which is too bad for Holland, who hurls himself into the role with the misapprehension that  Cherry  has something profound to say about the protagonist's dark existential void.

For all that, "Cherry" almost can't help but feel as if it's stringing together cinematic cliches, from war movies to crime capers. The same goes for the portentous narration -- lines like "Sometimes I feel like I've already seen everything that's gonna happen" -- and the way the chapters partition the story in spanning his service and its aftermath.

The problem with “Cherry” is that the movie presents itself as a dread-ridden slice of life, yet almost every moment in it feels based not on experience but on the experience of other movies. The Russos lift flourishes out of everything from “Natural Born Killers” to “Far From Heaven” to Wes Anderson, and they mix in slow motion and bits of opera, with sounds magnified and stylized, and images highlighted with a kind of ’80s music-video cut-in “significance.”

Conversely, there are some critical reviews that favor the film. A few critics laud Tom Holland's non-Spider-Man role  and the realistic way in which addiction is portrayed. They also praise Ciara Bravo, who plays girlfriend Emily, in her most heartbreaking performance yet. Here are some of the most positive outlooks on the film.

Chicago Sun-Times :

“Cherry” is at times almost overwhelming in its raw and real depiction of addiction and how it can destroy lives, but also chill-inducing with its promise of a possible lasting light at the end of the tunnel.

San Francisco Chronicle :

“Cherry” is like three different movies in one: the teen years, the war experience, and then life as a drug addict. It’s held together by the smart writing, by the overarching tone of tragic absurdity, and by Holland, who hits every bump on Cherry’s way down. He goes from a thoughtful guy who can’t think his way out of a trap to a guy who can barely think at all.

The New York Times :

Ciara Bravo, as Cherry’s girlfriend, wife and eventual partner in junkie-dom, is at times the performer who has the strongest emotional hold on the viewer, and the most memorable find here.

Despite these significantly brighter outlooks on Cherry , it seems that the general consensus leans more towards the negative. Most critics say  Cherry is a hard movie to get through because of its darker tone, serious content, and unlikeable characters. Whether audiences keep reacting positively to this new facet of Tom Holland and the Russo brothers remains to be seen.

Next: Every Upcoming Tom Holland Movie

Key Release Dates

• SR Originals
• Cherry (2021)

Finally, There's a Movie Review Site Led by Female Critics

Fall’s must-see coming attraction.

This year Bailey is flipping the script. Along with digital media executive Rebecca Odes, she recently launched CherryPicks , a Rotten-Tomatoes -like site that will aggregate film reviews and publish original content exclusively from female critics.

“Top critics at Rotten Tomatoes need to have spent X number of years at Y publication,” says filmmaker Miranda Bailey. “Rules like that just don’t account for women—and especially women of color—there have been few opportunities to reach top positions. Now, we’re cherry picking the female voices. ”

At CherryPicks, each project’s rating goes beyond a red tomato/green splat—earning a bowl of cherries (“Don’t miss it!”), two cherries (“Not amazing, but still recommended if you can get to it”), one cherry (“Maybe watch when you’re in bed with strep throat?”) or the pits (“Don’t bother”).

“The one and two cherries ratings are crucial. They represent exactly what we want our site to be for people,” says Odes. “We’re offering a more nuanced experience than the binary rating system, because subtlety is part of people’s real experiences.” Movies will also be rated by the Cherry Check, a score that evaluates gender representation by looking at the number of women working behind and in front of the camera, how many female characters have speaking or leading roles, and more.

Films may be at the heart of the new site, but that's not all CherryPicks will cover. “Across the country, women are consuming and inspired by television, music, and video games,” says Bailey, “But just as with movies, the men getting paid and published to share their opinions greatly outnumber the women. We want to be the place where people can come to read what women think about a variety of media.”

Looking at the big picture, though, Bailey and Odes want to do more than point female audiences toward stories that reflect their own lives. “We’re using media to help move the needle forward for women,” says Odes. “If we broaden the critical conversation, we change how films are received and, more important, what projects get made next.”

Sounds bowl-of-cherries-worthy to us.

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