Cherry – A Disappointingly Thin Addiction Drama (Early Review)

Most people know Tom Holland as the MCU’s Spider-Man, appearing in Spider-Man: Homecoming and Spider-Man Far From Home apart from several crossover films, but he can’t play that role forever if not to avoid being typecast. Recently, he has branched out with films such as last year’s The Devil All The Time and now comes his most mature role yet, Cherry, also directed by famed MCU directors Anthony and Joe Russo.

While it is commendable for Holland to continue to accept more challenging roles. suffice it to say that this film is not suitable for younger MCU fans. Though this film, based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Nico Walker, is certainly well-intentioned and takes big swings narratively and stylistically, most of them miss. Despite a decent lead performance from the aforementioned Holland, over the course of its overlong running time nearing 2.5 hours, the film offers a shallow, thin, slowly-paced, and dull experience that will feel much longer than that at times.

Saying so much while saying so little, Cherry tackles such themes as the veteran experience and the opioid crisis through the eyes of the roller coaster life of a nameless young man (Holland). Once a promising college student who found love in the form of a woman named Emily (Bravo), the two soon would find themselves on a downward spiral. After dropping out of college and joining the army as a medic, leading to a tour in Iraq, his return saw him haunted by his demons manifesting as PTSD. Turning to drugs as a means to cope with his PTSD, this need quickly became an addiction which snowballed from there. A stressful boot camp set the bar but little did he know what to truly expect once in Iraq. While rather slow, dull, and uneventful from our perspective, the film seemingly goes out of its way to establish that it took a toll on him, unnecessarily using a whole act to do so.

Those two themes essentially disappeared as the remainder of the film relied too much on melodrama as it saw him and Emily deal with the increasingly dire consequences of his desperation as he looked to robbing banks in order to finance his addiction. From there, Cherry was seeing how far down the man and Emily will go and/or if they will even survive. The stakes were never quite there and the characters never appeared to face any consequences for their questionable actions. The main problem with it all was that it was simply hard to care for the story or the characters. Featuring a story mostly told from the young man’s perspective through a strange combination of narration and talking to the camera, the chance to create a deeper emotional connection with him and/or any of the other characters just wasn’t there.

However, the characters weren’t overly deep to begin with and built on cliches and contrivances, making them too shallow to explore the important issues it attempts to tackle in a satisfying way. All of this is sure to lead to some viewers wondering what the point of it all was in spite of good intentions on the part of the filmmakers. In the end, the film lives or dies on the viewer’s ability to make that connection with the young man and Emily who was more of a plot device than an actual character. If Cherry had any saving grace, it was its performances which isn’t really saying much. Though Holland and Bravo were okay as the young man and Emily respectively, the script did not do them any favors.

The thin characters are one thing but the atrocious dialog is another, relying on melodrama as a means to distract from the thinness of the characters and story. Nevertheless, they made the most out of what they had. Holland may be the biggest name here and could very well mask some of the film’s problems as he handles the emotional weight of the film admirably. Ultimately, he is handcuffed by the script and aimless direction. Meanwhile, Emily was barely a character but Bravo’s decent chemistry with Holland made for a somewhat compelling dynamic.

Overall, it’s easy to see the film Cherry could have been in the right hands which is disappointing but it’s still commendable for Holland and the Russos to do something different.

still courtesy of Apple

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.