Cherry

Starring: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor, Forrest Goodluck, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg, Michael Gandolfini, Damon Wayans Jr.
Directed by: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
2021

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A man (Tom Holland) returns home from war and becomes a drug addict to help him cope with his PTSD. To fund this lifestyle, he turns to robbing banks.

Review:

Tim: The Russo Brothers followed up their excellent work on two of the biggest movies of all time (Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame) with this very different film. Cherry is considerably smaller scale (although, to be fair, almost everything would be after those films), but it retains some of the ambition and scope. Unfortunately, the problem is execution. After nearly flawlessly delivered two superhero epics, the Russo's trip up on this more intimate movie. I walked away from Cherry feeling disappointed in the experience.

Apple+ granted the Russo Brothers freedom for this film, but there's absolutely no way the movie should have been 2 hours and 22 minutes. It's easily 35 minutes too long. Nothing in this movie is compelling enough to warrant that screen time. The padded screen time does add scope to the story, which is impressive, but it detracts from the enjoyment of the experience. The film ultimately becomes a bit of a slog to get through. This is a recurring theme in the movie- the Russo Brothers seem transfixed by these characters, but they're never as interesting as they want us to believe. The story is unique, but it's made up of elements from things we've seen many times before. The uniqueness comes from the combination. There's definitely some value in watching a movie that's a romance, then a war movie, then a drama about drug addiction, and finally, a bank robber movie. The film covers each of these areas in a way that ties them together, but separates them in different chapters. It's definitely an interesting way to tell this story and deserves some level of credit. The problem is that there's significantly better romances, war movies, drug movies, and bank robber movies. This film's claim to fame is only that it combines those elements together. None of them are extraordinary in their own right.

The film starts off interesting enough. We get to know the characters of Cherry and Emily and the small world they inhabit. It's a fairly compelling romance thanks to the performances of its two leads. The drama is ratcheted up towards the end of that segment and it perfectly connects to the war scenes. I was still a big fan of the movie at this point- based on childish drama and miscommunication, Cherry was now risking his life for a war he didn't really believe in. The war scenes are among the best of the film. There's a good deal of action, drama, and emotion in those sequences. The Russo's were at their best there. It's when Cherry returns home that the movie starts to fall apart. The drug addiction scenes drag on, the relationship with Emily strays into melodramatic territory, and the bank robbery scenes are never as good as they needed to be. And, the movie goes on and on for seemingly ages at this point. It's really in the back half of the film that I started to lose interest and patience in the story.

I feel bad for the cast, because they are certainly game. Tom Holland's work with the Russo Brothers pay off, as he seems comfortable with the direction he got. Holland is a sneakily great actor and his performance here runs the gamut of emotions. It's a strong performance, sadly just wasted on a movie that tries our patience far too often. Holland won't be nominated for any awards for his work here, but it's a big step up from superhero movie acting and it's a reminder that he's incredibly talented. I really enjoyed Ciara Bravo here and I believe she has the makings of a star. Producers will see what she did in this film and I predict we'll all be saying her name much more often in coming years. Bravo gives a subtly wonderful performance with some big, emotional outbursts mixed in. She gives an emotional performance beyond her years and is just so impressive. I liked the pairing of Holland and Bravo and they had authentic chemistry together. Jack Reynor was very strong in a memorable supporting performance. He injects energy and humor into every scene he's in. I wish he had even more to do because the movie was always more entertaining when he was on screen. Forrest Goodluck was decent in the role. This surprised me, because I loved him in the little seen The Miseducation of Cameron Post. He has serious talent as an actor, but didn't get to showcase that here. I wouldn't say the cast as a whole hit a home run, but I didn't have much in the complaint department.

I appreciated that Joe and Anthony Russo brought an unexpected sense of ambition to this film. Cherry probably should have been a small film, but it's a film that never actually feels small. They brought an interesting epic scope to the story. Unfortunately, there's just not enough here to support that vision. What could have been a solid, tightly packed story is stretched far too thinly across the run time. This puts undue pressure on the story and the characters and they aren't robust enough to hold our interest that long. Ultimately, it all kind of falls apart. It ends up feeling like an ambitious film that was too ambitious. It simply doesn't work. Now, there are some clear strengths, so I'd call it a decent movie. It's just obvious that everyone involved was aiming so much higher.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



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