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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.

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.

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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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After teaming up for multiple Marvel Cinematic Universe installments, directors Joe and Anthony Russo reunite with star Tom Holland on  Cherry , a project wildly different from their previous superhero epics. Based on the novel of the same name by Nico Walker,  Cherry finds Holland shedding his boyish Peter Parker persona to play a war veteran suffering from undiagnosed PTSD and a crippling drug addiction. The material is certainly compelling, which is why distributor Apple TV+ was keen on putting together an awards campaign for the film. Those aspirations are understandable, but it doesn't quite get there.  Cherry is a fairly standard drama that hits the expected beats, but is still elevated by Holland's strong lead performance.

In  Cherry , Holland stars as the titular character, who is a directionless youth who joins the U.S. Army in search of a sense of purpose. Cherry serves overseas in the Iraq War as a medic, where he becomes emotionally scarred by the atrocities he witnesses in combat. Upon returning home, he struggles to adjust back to civilian life, sending him and his wife Emily (Ciara Bravo) down a dark path of drug addiction and financial ruin.

Related: Every Tom Holland Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

Cherry is broken down into multiple chapters to tell its story, each one sporting its own aesthetic to stand out. This ensures the film stays interesting from a visual perspective, as the Russos play around with aspect ratios, cinematography, and shot composition throughout the course of the runtime. The styles of the chapters help complement whatever emotional points the narrative is going for at the moment. For instance, early sequences of Cherry meeting and falling for Emily almost have a dream-like quality to them, while later scenes of drug abuse are cold and dark. It's a simple, yet effective, way of conveying the movie's key feelings and plot points. This directorial approach may not bring anything all that new to the table, but it still makes  Cherry engaging to watch.

Likewise, the script by Angela Russo-Otstot and Jessica Goldberg gets the job done, though falls short of reaching another level. Primarily, the overarching story feels undercooked, as the screenplay frequently touches on the surface level of topics like the horrors of war and dangers of drug addiction, but doesn't fully explore any of them in a way that's particularly effective. At times, it feels like  Cherry is merely retelling the broad strokes of its source material, taking viewers from one outrageous situation to the next (culminating with Cherry robbing banks to support his drug habits) to illustrate how crazy the story is. There is a deeper subtext present about how the U.S. fails its military members by not providing the support they need, but like the core narrative, that message ultimately feels simplified. This isn't to say anything in  Cherry's story is bad, it just follows a very familiar trajectory to make its points.

What does help raise  Cherry is Holland's performance, as the young actor demonstrates strong dramatic chops in what's a departure from other roles. Holland carries the film with a heartbreaking turn as a broken man and puts himself through the wringer. Cherry is a character that doesn't utilize Holland's trademark youthful exuberance, but his boyish appearance is still a benefit here, as it makes Cherry's downfall all the more devastating to watch. With Holland in the role, it feels like one is watching the loss of a young man's innocence and he's definitely capable of leading more films like this in the future. Elsewhere in the cast, Bravo has some nice moments as Emily, but the romance between her and Cherry feels half-baked as the emotional core. Other supporting actors like Jack Reynor as Pills & Coke and Forrest Goodluck as James Lightfoot serve to round out the ensemble, but aren't given much to work with.  Cherry is Holland's show through and through.

As the Oscar precursors come in during this delayed awards season,  Cherry has been absent from the nominations and it doesn't look like it will be a major contender. The film has some admirable qualities, and it's nice to see the Russos attempt this as an ambitious palate cleanser following the grand spectacle of  Avengers: Endgame , but it never reaches the heights of the other titles in contention this year. Still,  Cherry is worth watching for those interested in either the story or Holland's exceptional performance. It may not drive waves of new subscribers to Apple TV+, but those who already have the service or want to use a free trial could get something out of it.

Next: Watch the Official Cherry Trailer

Cherry opens in U.S. theaters on February 26 and starts streaming on Apple TV+ March 12. It runs 150 minutes and is rated R for graphic drug abuse, disturbing and violent images, pervasive language, and sexual content.

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‘Cherry’ Review: Russo Brothers Follow ‘Endgame’ with Miscast Tom Holland as a Drug-Addicted Bank Robber

David ehrlich.

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It’s safe to assume that Nico Walker knew his life story could make for a good movie in the right hands. By the time he finished up his prison sentence in Ashland, Kentucky, he was waiting for the publication of the semi-autobiographical novel he’d written from jail about the wayward journey that had brought him there in the first place. The book was called “ Cherry ,” and the bestseller’s instant success would earn enough to afford its 33-year-old author — a former Iraq War Army medic, opioid addict, and mild-mannered bank robber in that order — a second chance to be all that he could be, even before directors Anthony and Joe Russo paid him $1 million dollars for the film rights and turned it into their first post-“ Avengers: Endgame ” production. Suffering through the Russo brothers ’ scuzzy, interminable, and misjudged adaptation of Walker’s life story, there’s no question who got the better end of that deal.

“Cherry” popped with readers and rubberneckers alike because of its blunt take on a multi-car pile-up of millennial crises. Neither Walker nor the semi-unnamed protagonist who served as his proxy were much interested in style points or seeming cool. The unvarnished writing so casually processed Holden Caulfield’s matter-of-fact heartache through Hemingway’s dead-eyed war stories, Hunter S. Thompson’s gonzo debasement, and Denis Johnson’s “here but for the grace of God go I” journeys to Hell and back that Walker could’ve plausibly denied any familiarity with their work.

But “Cherry” was still the torch-bearer of a proud tradition that it carried into the 21st century; an explosive account of a country that struggles to imagine how the suffering it causes for so many could be as self-evident as the success that it allows for a chosen few. The Russo brothers don’t bother with such subtlety. You’d have to go back to the glory days of solipsistically overcranked post-9/11 cinema like “Spun” and “Rules of Attraction” to find a movie so determined to hold your attention hostage with an unloaded gun of its own empty affectations. Period details are one of the few things that “Cherry” gets right about its story (behold Jack Reynor sporting two popped collar shirts on top of each other in his role as a preppy drug dealer named Pills and Coke), but the Russos’ aesthetic is far too stultifying and self-insistent to forgive their intricate approach to rendering the Bush era in the visual language of its time.

From fitting red chapter titles and fourth-wall breaking narration to gratuitous speed-ramping, trick mirrors, visualized dialogue (the words “COCK HOLSTER” billboard across the screen at one point), and splashes of selective color (à la the little girl’s coat in “Schindler’s List”), “Cherry” sometimes feels like more of a live-action comic book than any of the “Avengers” movies ever did. The decision to cast Spider-Man himself in the lead role doesn’t exactly diminish that sensation, in large part because 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 film begins with its hard-luck hero looking into the camera lens and narrating a 2007 bank robbery in real-time before the action skips back a few years to walk us through how he got there, but it can’t even make the leap from PROLOGUE to PART ONE without falling into the uncanny valley between them. “I’ve got a lot of sadness in the face so I have to act crazy or people think I’m a pussy” Holland tells the audience as he strolls through “Capitalist One” or “Shitty Bank” (get it?) or whichever one of the “Fight Club”-fresh sight gags happens to be misfiring in the background. But Holland has the enthusiasm of a puppy dog who can’t even go hungry without wagging his tail about it.

That eagerness works in the actor’s favor when his character is trying to fight his way through the self-destructive masculine anxieties the movie throws his way, but it’s a ruinous mismatch with the apathetic tone of this material. “It’s not even that interesting,” he says about everything from robbing a bank to reporting for duty in Iraq. The falseness of his modesty is typical of a film steeped in the overaffected affectlessness of his delivery.

In fairness to the Russos and the all-too-real story they took it upon themselves to tell here, it may have been impossible to capture the kite-on-a-string youth of these unfortunate characters without skewing so young that “Cherry” started to feel like a high school production of “Death of a Salesman.” Yet Holland’s miscasting handcuffs the rest of the movie to a precociousness that was much easier to accept on the page. “The Long Dumb Road” actress Ciara Bravo plays Emily, the love interest next door who turns our hero’s life upside down at the Jesuit University they both attend (“I have a thing for weak guys,” she teases).

They make a fine couple, but Bravo’s ultra-young appearance strains belief as the characters age throughout the film. She isn’t done any favors by a script that reduces Emily’s childhood trauma to the length of a chintzy cut-away, and overstates her eventual melodramatic slide into opioid addiction that you have to stop yourself from laughing at the story’s most acute moment of sadness. Few movie scenes are more galling than the ones that render a common tragedy — say, someone getting hooked on OxyContin in a desperate bid to scare their partner out of the habit — in such ridiculous terms that an audience questions whether it could actually happen in real life.

In between those early college days and the expensive drug addict years that inspire our boy to start robbing banks, Cherry goes off to war and earns the only name he ever has. Don’t hold your breath for a satisfying explanation, as the Russos’ approach to the Iraq chapter — a half-hour chunk in an 140-minute endurance test — seems almost perversely determined to miss any sort of point. While the combat sequences allow the directors to flex their muscles in a way they never could when playing in the Marvel sandbox, they can’t help but overcompensate.

The second half of this movie could only work if we understood in visceral terms that Cherry’s nerves were so frayed by his experience as a medic that even robbing a bank wouldn’t quicken his heartbeat — he’d zip-tied enough Iraqi civilians and survived enough firefights that nothing about life back home could faze him — and yet when it comes to conveying that cold-blooded disconnect the Russos settle for all the wrong solutions. Their fear of cliché drives them straight towards kitsch, as voiceover-heavy sequences about our hero’s masturbation habits and isometric views of his (Army) unit sweeping through local houses are shot with a jarhead slickness that labors to illustrate Cherry’s gradual desensitization from the world around him, but only manages to induce our own.

The film never quite sells us on Cherry’s stony numbness, and things only get worse when his polite sociopathy collides with the PTSD he brings home from the war in a histrionic way that muddles them both. “I’m 23 years old,” he tells us at the start, “and I still don’t understand what it is that people do.” “Cherry” doesn’t have any decent answers for him; it can only smother him under the crushing weight of style over substance.

There are a few small pockets of air along the way (Michael Gandolfini is a lot of fun as Cherry’s oafish friend), 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.

“Cherry” will open in theaters on Friday, February 26 before being available to stream worldwide on Apple TV+ starting Friday, March 12.

As new movies open in theaters during the COVID-19 pandemic, IndieWire will continue to review them whenever possible. We encourage readers to follow the  safety precautions  provided by CDC and health authorities. Additionally, our coverage will provide alternative viewing options whenever they are available.

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Drugs, gore, sex, swearing in gritty, unforgettable saga.

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

This modern-day tragedy inspires empathy and compa

The love that "Cherry" and Emily share is aspirati

Bloody battlefield violence with heavy artillery a

Explicit sexual language. Scenes of a young couple

Extremely strong, profane language throughout, inc

Explicit and extensive drug use, including Xanax,

Parents need to know that Cherry is an examination of America through the eyes of a sensitive soldier. Directed by Avengers alums Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Tom "Spider-Man" Holland and former Nickelodeon actor Ciaro Bravo, it will likely get teens' attention. The movie takes a critical view…

Positive Messages

This modern-day tragedy inspires empathy and compassion. Young audiences may take away that impulsive decisions about drug use or life choices can have terrible consequences.

Positive Role Models

The love that "Cherry" and Emily share is aspirational, but their immaturity and co-dependency lead them to make impetuous decisions that become their downfall. Lead character is a sensitive man who cries in moments that are touching, sad, unbearable. Minor characters reflect diversity in ethnicity and ability. Negative representations of the military. Main character has Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Violence & Scariness

Bloody battlefield violence with heavy artillery and explosions. Graphic, gruesome images of wounded and dead soldiers. Physical attack. Guns waved around in various scenarios. Gunfire during a robbery. Brief implication of rape. Bruise infers child abuse.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Sex, Romance & Nudity

Explicit sexual language. Scenes of a young couple engaging in sexual acts. Implied masturbation. Young woman frequently wears only bra and underwear. Passionate kissing. Sensual scenes show the side of a woman's nude body and a fraction of her areola. Crude talk. Young woman's underwear can be seen under her short skirt.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Sex, Romance & Nudity in your kid's entertainment guide.

Extremely strong, profane language throughout, including "c--k," "c--t," "d--k," "goddamn," "idiot," "p---y," "s--t," "t-tties." Frequent use of "f--k." "Retard" used as insult a couple of times. Slur used to describe Iraqis.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Explicit and extensive drug use, including Xanax, Ecstasy, OxyContin, cocaine, heroin. A drug dealer called "Pills & Coke" is a supporting character. Frequent drinking.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Cherry is an examination of America through the eyes of a sensitive soldier. Directed by Avengers alums Anthony and Joe Russo and starring Tom "Spider-Man" Holland and former Nickelodeon actor Ciaro Bravo , it will likely get teens' attention. The movie takes a critical view of the military, portraying its leaders as inept, missions as pointless, and war as a machine that uses people up and spits them out, leaving them with severe and permanent mental stress. The unnamed main character (whose nickname, "Cherry," is a sexual metaphor) is an Army medic who witnesses wartime violence and gory battle wounds, including charred dead bodies and a disemboweled soldier. These scenes are intended to help viewers fathom what frontline personnel experience, leaving them scarred, angry, and, in some cases, turning to drugs for relief. The drug use depicted here is extremely graphic (including heroin use) but not glamorized. The consequences for dependency are significant, and Cherry is so likable that his struggles are likely to help audiences empathize with those in his position. When he turns to robbing banks, guns are waved around and fired; rape and child abuse are both implied. The film is also a love story of Romeo and Juliet proportions: Cherry and his wife have a very deep connection. The movie's sensuality, including a masturbation scene, is all within the context of a loving, monogamous relationship, though a flashback with other characters includes crude "locker room" talk. There's also extreme profanity throughout the movie: Expect to hear "c--t," "f--k," and much more. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

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Based on 2 parent reviews

It’s only for adults

I enjoyed this movie a lot, what's the story.

CHERRY takes place from 2003 to 2021. Cherry ( Tom Holland ) and Emily ( Ciaro Bravo ) meet in college and fall deeply in love. Through a couple of impetuous decisions, they alter the course of their lives. And later, returning from a tour of duty in Iraq as an Army medic, Cherry (a nickname; his actual name is never given) turns to drugs to relieve his PTSD. Desperate to pay off his drug debts, he turns to robbing banks.

Is It Any Good?

With this stylistically spectacular drama, the Russo brothers have made an unforgettable film that rebukes the U.S. military while empathizing with the plights of those who serve. Cherry 's cinematography is like a piece of modern art, with bold colors, creative execution, and filters that will make Instagram jealous. The main character's sardonic personality will connect with young audiences, as will the embrace of a type of masculinity that includes weeping at things beautiful, sad, and difficult. The movie's romantic tragedy dives somewhere between Shakespeare and O. Henry. Between the dialogue and Holland's emotive performance, the experience pops like cinematic street poetry.

Not too many mainstream films since the Vietnam era have been blatantly critical of the military experience. That's due in part to filmmakers looking to secure the U.S. military's cooperation. But it's also due to the influence of the type of patriotism that borders on propaganda in times of war -- which the United States has been involved in, in some form, for the last 20 years. Cherry covers this whole time frame, starting in 2003 and reflecting on a military operation that was well-equipped, overly arrogant, and underprepared for the toll it would take on soldiers' mental health. While creating empathy for those suffering from PTSD, the film also encourages compassion for those in the throes of drug dependency. In college, Cherry takes prescribed Xanax for anxiety. He also drinks and parties with friends, taking Esctasy. The film subtly indicates that had he not found early acceptance for his recreational pill popping then, his later dive into OxyContin -- which eventually leads him to heroin -- would perhaps not have been such an easy leap. This is a tragedy that carries no overt messages while still delivering a takeaway you won't forget: Your choices today matter tomorrow. In its thoughtful exploration of mature subjects like sex (within a loving relationship), drugs (with consequences), and violence (in war), Cherry is a film for young adults that's as responsible as it is impactful.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about how soldiers tend to be depicted in movies and on TV. When the military are shown performing heroically in battle, do viewers usually see them coming home and having a tough time? Where do their stories usually begin and end?

How does the violence in Cherry compare to what you might see in a superhero-type action movie? Which has more impact? Why?

Do you think substance abuse is glamorized in this film? How does it compare to other depictions of dependency in entertainment? Do you think film has the power to dissuade viewers from drug use?

How can this film be considered a tool for building empathy and compassion ? Why are those important life skills?

What does the movie have to say about making emotional, reactionary decisions? Have you ever made an impulsive decision? What was the outcome?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 26, 2021
• On DVD or streaming : March 12, 2021
• Cast : Tom Holland , Ciara Bravo , Jack Reynor
• Directors : Anthony Russo , Joe Russo
• Inclusion Information : Female actors
• Studio : Apple TV+
• Genre : Drama
• Topics : Book Characters
• Run time : 140 minutes
• MPAA rating : R
• MPAA explanation : graphic drug abuse, disturbing and violent images, pervasive language, and sexual content
• Last updated : February 19, 2023

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REVIEW: CHERRY sees Tom Holland’s dramatic take on an unbelievable story

Anthony and Joe Russo present their film based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Nico Walker.

There’s a lot to take in with Anthony and Joe Russo ‘s most recent flick, Cherry . Reunited with Tom Holland after Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame comes a war story of a different sort. Based on a novel, which is semi-autobiographically based on the life of Nico Walker , an Iraq veteran-turned-drug-addict-turned-bank-robber, there’s a lot to unpack. Cherry , the novel, was inspired by a Buzzfeed profile of Walker from 2013 . An editor reached out to Walker, who was then serving his time in a Kentucky federal prison, and sent him books, eventually suggesting that he write a book .

Going into these types of films, I like to read the book that inspired the film after watching the movie. In a story as personal as Cherry , it felt extra important to see the read the source material. But does Cherry , the film, match up to the original story back in 2013? There are some scenes that have survived from the drafts of the novel to the creation of the screenplay for the film, some that have been edited away, and some that have been added.

The reality is, very little needed to be added to Cherry and the additional scenes, like the narrator’s undying loyalty to Emily ( Ciara Bravo ), adds a layer of melodrama that detracts from the film rather than add to it. Coming in at 141 minutes, the film can feel bloated at times. Granted, the Russos have a lot of ground to cover. Cherry touches on topics like toxic masculinity, verbal and mental abuse, combat trauma, severe ptsd, depression, disillusionment, the opioid crisis, and even nihilism.

But it’s all touched upon. Much like the novel, there is very little self examination when it comes to the narrator, at least none of it makes it on-screen. We are presented with issue after issue and are forced to self-diagnose. In this manner, the film emulates the novel. It shows you everything and you’re left to make your own conclusions. Rarely does the narrator tell you just how he feels, or why he does the things that he does? There are small hints to his disillusionment in the world around him, like when he talks to the faceless bank teller, robs banks called Bank Fucks America and Credit None, or sees Dr. Whomever for help with his PTS and is given a prescription for Oxycontin. And fittingly within the narrative, there is very little professional help given to him despite the fact that we, as the audience, know that he suffers from post-traumatic stress.

Divided into seven parts, a prologue and epilogue with five parts in between, the most dynamic part is undeniably Part Three, titled “Cherry”. After meeting the love of his life, Emily, the narrator enlists in the army in 2003. He passes basic training and he is thrown straight into the deep end during the most volatile and violent years of the occupation of Iraq, placed right in the “ Triangle of Death .” From humorous moments of camaraderie between the narrator and his fellow soldiers to crushingly brutal attacks leaving him putting the charred remains of his comrades into black bags, the Russos excel at displaying the horrors of war without glamorizing or exploiting it.

Even cutting out some of the more gruesome scenes from the novel, this is the strongest part of the film. It solidifies as a watershed moment in the narrator’s life. The essential soul of the character is not completely lost, there are moments of softness in the narrator that is played out expertly in Holland’s performance, both fragile and strong. He can embody both sides of the narrator, the smart-mouthed soldier mouthing off to a sergeant, and the empathetic medic who sincerely wants to help even when faced with opposition in the way.

After coming home, he faces severe disillusionment. Add that to the trauma he experienced in combat, and the insomnia and nightmares it leads to, and the narrator quickly develops an addiction problem. This is perhaps a more gradual process in the novel, where we learn that most of the soldiers are doing anything to get high even while deployed. The narrator soon goes from pills to Oxycontin and then finally to heroin. And how can he support this expensive habit? (In the novel, he and Emily spend nearly a thousand dollars a week at the height of their addiction.) He starts robbing banks.

While this is another strong part of the film, with the Russos capturing both the absurd moments of being embroiled in the drug underworld and also the disastrous addiction associated with being a dope fiend, this part of the film stretches on. It lacks the same tempo and rhythm as its earlier parts and that’s where it falters. Similarly, and this is perhaps a commentary also on the novel, but Walker makes it clear in his 2013 profile that much of his motivation for robbing banks was in the rush. In the article, Scott Johnson writes, “In that way, a bank robbery was a lot like the war: The worse things got, the easier it was somehow to cope.” Yes, the money was an added bonus, but it’s hardly the act of desperation the narrator claims.

And that’s perhaps the core of the problem with Cherry . It should have pulled both from Walker’s own real-life experiences and trimmed the fat off of some of the more melodramatic moments of the novel. It doubles down on the narrator’s romance with Emily — thankfully cutting out the rampant sexism evident in the novel — but combined with the unconvincing dialogue and a lack of chemistry, it drags the movie down and holds it back. We’re told to believe that this is a romance for the ages, one that overcomes all, but it often feels contrived. I didn’t know why these two people chose to remain with one another when their romance seemed to be the easiest habit to break.

But the best parts of the film are the ones that feel the most authentic, those pulled directly from Walker’s life and lacks any form of pretension. Holland dives into the role, we’ve already seen him shed the sunny Peter Parker he is famous for before, but this performance watches the actor give it his all. Mixing softness with desperation and repression, he doesn’t backdown from the challenge of taking on a character that cycles through very different phases of his own life. On top of the Russos’ perfectly capturing the frenzy and chaos of war, Henry Jackman offers a score that highlights the emotion and movement of a scene perfectly. From tenderness to violence, his score frames the scenes delicately.

The film ends with a tinge of hope and perhaps some optimism. After a grim and hopeless film, this is less fitting. In a story that leaned into the realities of so many dark episodes in the narrator’s life, perhaps this was the opportunity to inject a bit of levity. It’s not the strongest ending, but there are enough powerful parts in the film to keep Cherry afloat. While I think that the Russos could have benefitted from adapting more of Walker’s own real-life, Cherry is a valiant and bold effort in balancing a war story with an addiction story.

Cherry will premiere in select theaters today, on February 26, 2021 and globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 12, 2021.

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While Tom Holland offers a stunning performance as Cherry, the Russo brothers bring us a film that wanes the audience’s attention to the point of missing the subtle quips sprinkled in to showcase the nuances of Cherry’s poor choices.

When Cherry goes into the military, he thinks of it as a farce, but once placed in an active warzone realizes the effect of his choices, especially as a medic. He sees the worst of war while serving his time while trying to hold onto his relationship with Emily. When he returns, he is broken from PTSD, something many soldiers experience when they return home. It’s a system that continues to fail the men and women that protect and serve our country. The film places the time when a soldier returns home under a microscope, not just for Cherry but his wife Emily as well. The idea that her role as a spouse is to try and fix him when he returns, something that she clearly feels responsible for in the first place.

Holland’s ability to make you smile while robbing a bank gives me the sense that these are sparks of his personality shining through. Playing the role of Cherry is a departure from what we are used to seeing from our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, but his performance definitely stands out. Holland and Bravo deliver a harrowing performance of struggling with addiction and dealing with life after the military. While their performances were heartbreaking and riveting to watch, the two-hour and 22-minute runtime cause the story to drone on during the low points. Joe and Anthony Russo bring in aspects of humor that audiences will enjoy against the raw storyline offering a small reprieve.

The audience can expect to feel emotionally drained after watching this film with the severe highs and lows that span Cherry’s life. Cherry is very triggering for anyone who has experienced sexual assault, served in the military, or had a drug addiction. There is no holding back, and it can be too much for some audiences to sit through.

“Cherry” follows the wild journey of a disenfranchised young man from Ohio who meets the love of his life, only to risk losing her through a series of bad decisions and challenging life circumstances. Inspired by the best-selling novel of the same name, “Cherry” features Tom Holland in the title role as an unhinged character who drifts from dropping out of college to serving in Iraq as an Army medic and is only anchored by his one true love, Emily (Ciara Bravo). When Cherry returns home a war hero, he battles the demons of undiagnosed PTSD and spirals into drug addiction, surrounding himself with a menagerie of depraved misfits. Draining his finances, Cherry turns to bank robbing to fund his addiction, shattering his relationship with Emily along the way. Brought to the screen in bold, gritty fashion by visionary directors Anthony and Joe Russo, “Cherry” is a darkly humorous, unflinching coming-of-age story of a man on a universal quest for purpose and human connection. “Cherry” will is in select theaters on February 26, 2021, and globally on Apple TV+ on Friday, March 12, 2021.

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There was great drama at Cannes last year when the Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami was allowed, at the last moment, to leave his country and attend the festival premiere of his new film, "Taste of Cherry." He received a standing ovation as he entered the theater, and another at the end of his film (although this time mixed with boos), and the jury eventually made the film co-winner of the Palme d'Or.

Back at the Hotel Splendid, standing in the lobby, I found myself in lively disagreement with two critics I respect, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the Chicago Reader and Dave Kehr of the New York Daily News. Both believed they had seen a masterpiece. I thought I had seen an emperor without any clothes.

A case can be made for the movie, but it would involve transforming the experience of viewing the film (which is excruciatingly boring) into something more interesting, a fable about life and death. Just as a bad novel can be made into a good movie, so can a boring movie be made into a fascinating movie review.

The story: A man in a Range Rover drives through the wastelands outside Tehran, crisscrossing a barren industrial landscape of construction sites and shanty towns, populated by young men looking for work. The driver picks up a young serviceman, asking him, at length, if he's looking for work: "If you've got money problems, I can help." Is this a homosexual pickup? Kiarostami deliberately allows us to draw that inference for a time, before gradually revealing the true nature of the job.

The man, Mr. Badii ( Homayon Ershadi ) wants to commit suicide. He has dug a hole in the ground. He plans to climb into it and take pills. He wants to pay the other man to come around at 6 a.m. and call down to him. "If I answer, pull me out. If I don't, throw in 20 shovels of earth to bury me." The serviceman runs away. Badhi resumes his employment quest, first asking a seminarian, who turns him down because suicide is forbidden by the Koran, and then an elderly taxidermist. The older man agrees because he needs money to help his son, but argues against suicide. He makes a speech on Mother Earth and her provisions, and asks Badhi, "Can you do without the taste of cherries?" That, is essentially, the story. (I will not reveal if Badhi gets his wish.) Kiarostami tells it in a monotone. Conversations are very long, elusive and enigmatic. Intentions are misunderstood. The car is seen driving for long periods in the wasteland, or parked overlooking desolation, while Badhi smokes a cigarette. Any two characters are rarely seen in the same shot, reportedly because Kiarostami shot the movie himself, first sitting in the driver's seat, then in the passenger's seat.

Defenders of the film, and there are many, speak of Kiarostami's willingness to accept silence, passivity, a slow pace, deliberation, inactivity. Viewers who have short attention spans will grow restless, we learn, but if we allow ourselves to accept Kiarostami's time sense, if we open ourselves to the existential dilemma of the main character, then we will sense the film's greatness.

But will we? I have abundant patience with long, slow films, if they engage me. I fondly recall "Taiga," the eight-hour documentary about the yurt-dwelling nomads of Outer Mongolia. I understand intellectually what Kiarostami is doing. I am not impatiently asking for action or incident. What I do feel, however, is that Kiarostami's style here is an affectation; the subject matter does not make it necessary, and is not benefited by it.

If we're to feel sympathy for Badhi, wouldn't it help to know more about him? To know, in fact, anything at all about him? What purpose does it serve to suggest at first he may be a homosexual? (Not what purpose for the audience--what purpose for Badhi himself? Surely he must be aware his intentions are being misinterpreted.) And why must we see Kiarostami's camera crew--a tiresome distancing strategy to remind us we are seeing a movie? If there is one thing "Taste of Cherry" does not need, it is such a reminder: The film is such a lifeless drone that we experience it only as a movie.

Yes, there is a humanistic feeling underlying the action. Yes, an Iranian director making a film on the forbidden subject of suicide must have courage. Yes, we applaud the stirrings of artistic independence in the strict Islamic republic. But is "Taste of Cherry" a worthwhile viewing experience? I say it is not.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Taste of Cherry (1998)

Rated NR Adult Themes; No Objectionable Material

Homayon Ershadi as Mr. Badii

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‘the substance’ review: an excellent demi moore helps sustain coralie fargeat’s stylish but redundant body horror.

In her second feature, co-starring Margaret Qualley and Dennis Quaid, the French filmmaker examines society's ghoulish obsession with youth and beauty.

By Lovia Gyarkye

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Cannes: sean baker's 'anora' wins palme d'or as 'emilia pérez' takes two awards, a trans drug kingpin, masturbating zombies and emma stone: thr's critics pick the 20 best films of cannes 2024, the substance.

In The Substance , a woman also takes fate into her own hands and combats underestimation, only this time she’s at war with herself, too. Fargeat combines sci-fi elements (as in her early short Reality+ ) with body horror and satire to show how women are trapped by the dual forces of sexism and ageism. Beauty and youth are the targets at the heart of this film, but the director also takes aim at Hollywood’s ghoulish machinations and the compulsive physical and psychological intrusiveness of cisgender heterosexual men. 

Fargeat flaunts an exciting hyperactive style. Ultra wide-angle shots, close-ups and a bubble-gum color palette contribute to the film’s surreal — and at times uncanny — visual language. The British composer Raffertie’s thunderous score adds an appropriately ominous touch, especially during moments of corporeal mutilation. 

During his final meeting with Elisabeth, Harvey doubles down on his offensiveness. By the time women reach the age of 50, he suggests to Elisabeth while stuffing his mouth with shrimp, it’s over for them. Fargeat heightens the perversity of Harvey’s blunt assessment with shots of his mouth masticating on shellfish bits. As he crushes the coral-colored creatures with his molars, Elisabeth stares at him with a faint disgust bordering on hatred. Quaid’s character lives in the more satirical notes of The Substance , and the actor responds with an appropriately mocking performance.

Harvey’s words, coupled with the blank stares Elisabeth now receives from passersby, drive the actress to seek a solution. She reaches out to the anonymous purveyors of The Substance, a program that allows people to essentially clone a younger version of themselves. While Fargeat’s screenplay leaves much to be desired when it comes to conveying the company’s scale of operations or how they function in her version of Los Angeles, the rules of the experiment are straightforward. After individuals spawn their duplicates, it’s critical they maintain a balanced life. Every 7 days one of them enters a coma, kept alive through a feeding tube, while the other roams free. Then they switch. The catch, of course, is the addiction of youth. 

Moore imbues her character with a visceral desperation, one that enriches the unsettling undercurrents of Fargeat’s film. She plays a woman who can’t quit the addiction of having youth at her fingertips despite its lacerating effect on her psyche. In one particularly strong scene, Elisabeth, haunted by a giant billboard of Sue outside her window, struggles to leave the house for a date. She tirelessly redoes her makeup and each attempt reveals the layers of anguish behind the actress’s pristine facade. 

Moore leans into the physical requirements of her role later in the film. Elisabeth eventually learns that upsetting the balance of the experiment reduces her vitality. Sue, greedier for more time outside the coma, becomes a kind of vampire, and Elisabeth wilts. Moore’s slow walk and hunched shoulders add to the sense of her character’s suffering. Special makeup effects by Pierre-Olivier Persin render Elisabeth’s withering even more startling and persuasive.  

Qualley does not have as meaty a role as Moore. Her character functions as Elisabeth’s foil, seeming to exist only to help us understand the perversion of Hollywood’s gaze on the starlet. That’s a shame, because The Substance ’s smart premise and direction promise more revelatory confrontations between Elisabeth and Sue than the one we are offered.

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