''Cherry'' is a 2021 American
crime drama film
Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as drama or gangster film, but al ...
directed by
Anthony and Joe Russo from a screenplay by Angela Russo-Otstot and
Jessica Goldberg, based on the 2018 novel
of the same name by
Nico Walker. It stars
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, he featured on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most ...
as the titular character, alongside
Ciara Bravo,
Jack Reynor, and
Jeff Wahlberg. The film follows the life of Cherry, from a college student to a
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...
-afflicted veteran who robs banks to pay for his and his wife's drug addiction.
''Cherry'' was released in
select theaters on February 26, 2021, and received a streaming release on March 12, by
Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...
. The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised Holland's and Bravo's performances, but criticized its writing and direction.
Plot
College student Cherry falls in love at first sight with his classmate Emily. Their relationship blossoms but Emily decides to leave him and study in
Montreal
Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...
. Cherry is devastated and enlists in the Army as a medic to escape his heartbreak. Just before he is about to leave for basic training, Emily realizes her mistake and confesses she is in love with Cherry too and that they are meant for one another. Cherry and Emily marry before his deployment.
During his two year service in the Army, Cherry suffers from
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental disorder that develops from experiencing a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, warfare and its associated traumas, natural disaster, traffic collision, ...
after having several horrific experiences, including seeing his friend, Jimenez, burnt and killed from an IED. To cope with his panic attacks and severe anxiety when he comes home, he abuses OxyContin, prescribed from a doctor helping to decrease his PTSD symptoms. His growing addiction begins to frustrate Emily and as a result, she begins taking Cherry's medication to deal with her own frustration of not knowing how to support him without drugs and the two soon become addicted to OxyContin, and eventually heroin.
After they break into a safe that he was looking after for his drug dealer, Pills and Coke, he and Emily use most of the drugs secured inside for themselves. Sometime later, Pills and Coke visits and sees the empty safe. Cherry learns that his drug dealer's boss, Black, is the owner of the safe and will kill all three of them for this. To get the money for the drugs they used, Cherry robs a bank and pays back the money. As a result of their daily heroin use, Cherry continues to rob banks frequently after he and Emily go through severe withdrawals. Emily overdoses and almost dies in a hospital. Cherry is blamed and forced by Emily's mother to leave her alone.
Emily leaves her drug rehabilitation facility and reunites with Cherry. He tries to send her back and persuade her that he is no good for her. Emily does not care and tells Cherry she wants to be with him; she will get high on drugs again no matter what. Needing more money to support their addiction, he enlists Pills and Coke and his friend, James Lightfoot, to help him rob multiple tellers at once. During a robbery, the drug dealer runs away, forcing Cherry to rob the bank alone. As he drives away with Lightfoot in a getaway car, Cherry stresses that Pills and Coke will likely rat him out if he gets caught and convinces Lightfoot to turn the car around and search for him. After putting Pills and Coke in the car, he sees that he has been shot and is severely bleeding. They debate whether to take him to the hospital, but decide it is too risky, and he dies from his gunshot wound. They dump the body on the side of the road and part ways.
Black later confronts Cherry outside his home to settle the drug debt. Cherry kisses and says goodbye to Emily before performing one last robbery. During the robbery, Cherry persuades the bank teller to set off the alarm before he leaves with the money. Cherry gives Black all of the money. Cherry then walks out to the open road and gets the attention of the police by firing his gun in the air, proceeding to sit by the side of the road and get high one last time, before police arrive and arrest him.
Cherry detoxes and recovers in prison, spending 14 years serving his sentence before being released on parole. As Cherry makes his way out of the prison, he sees Emily waiting for him.
Cast
Production
Anthony and Joe Russo's production company
AGBO purchased the production rights to the novel in August 2018, beating out offers from
Warner Bros. Entertainment which would've had
James Franco
James Edward Franco (born April 19, 1978) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has starred in numerous films, including Sam Raimi's Spider-Man (2002 film series), ''Spider-Man'' trilogy (2002–2007), ''Milk (2008 American film), Milk'' (200 ...
directing, and
Sony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...
,
with the Russos set to direct the film.
In March 2019,
Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, he featured on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most ...
, who previously collaborated with the Russos on
Marvel Studios
Marvel Studios, LLC, formerly known as Marvel Films, is an American film and television production company. Marvel Studios is the creator of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), a media franchise and shared universe of films and television ser ...
' ''
Captain America: Civil War'' (2016), ''
Avengers: Infinity War'' (2018), and ''
Avengers: Endgame'' (2019) entered talks to star in the film.
Ciara Bravo,
Jack Reynor, Jeff Wahlberg,
Kyle Harvey,
Forrest Goodluck and
Michael Gandolfini were added to the cast in October.
Pooch Hall
Marion "Pooch" Hall, Jr. (born February 8, 1976) is an American television and film actor known for his role as Derwin Davis, the football player on the sitcom '' The Game'', and as Ricky in the 2011 film '' Jumping the Broom''. He also played t ...
would be cast in an undisclosed role in December.
Filming was initially reported to begin on July 15, 2019.
The filmmakers had plans to shoot the film in Ohio, the setting of the novel and homestate of the Russo brothers, but due to the
Greater Cleveland Film Commission's proposed changes in tax incentives were forced to move the planned shooting to California. However, the proposed figures were lowered from $100 million to $40 million, and production returned to the state.
[ Because of this, filming did not begin until October 8, 2019 and concluded in February 2020. Filming occurred mostly in ]Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
. The lead actor, Tom Holland
Thomas Stanley Holland (born 1 June 1996) is an English actor. The recipient of numerous accolades, including a BAFTA Award, he featured on the ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 Europe list of 2019. Some publications have called him one of the most ...
, was spotted in Cleveland's Gordon Square
Gordon Square is a public park square in Bloomsbury, London, England. It is part of the Bedford Estate and was designed as one of a pair with the nearby Tavistock Square. It is owned by the University of London.
History and buildings
The sq ...
neighborhood in November 2019. On Detroit Avenue, some scenes were filmed inside the Subway, after which Holland was seen hurrying outside for some exterior shots. In the morning, the crew had shot several scenes inside the Pioneer Savings Bank, where they probably filmed one of the robberies. Some important shots were also taken at Case Western Reserve University
Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) is a Private university, private research university in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1967 by a merger between Western Reserve University and the Case Institute of Technology. Case ...
, the top-ranked private research university in Cleveland.
Although Cleveland is an important shooting location, the filming was not limited to it. In Lorain, filming was done at Broadway Avenue and on East 20th Street (just east of Broadway). In Marion, prison scenes were filmed at the North Central Correctional Complex in Marion County, a high-security prison for men. The crew also filmed a few scenes in Bedford, at St. Peter Chanel High School, before it was demolished. The Russo brothers even tweeted about it being the high school where their father obtained his education. In Parma, Ohio
Parma is a city in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States. It is a suburb south of Cleveland. The population was 81,146 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Parma is the List of municipalities in Ohio, seventh-most populous city in Ohio, ...
, scenes were filmed along Ridge Rd. in the old First Merit Bank location and across the street at Mack's Beverage. According to the Russo brothers, editing for ''Cherry'' took place as it was filmed to allow them to see what they were missing, and if they needed to "rewrite or reshoot" parts of the film.
Soundtrack
The musical score for ''Cherry'' was composed by Henry Jackman who had also previously collaborated with the Russo brothers on the four films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on List of Marvel Cinematic Universe films, a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appe ...
. The soundtrack for ''Cherry'' was recorded at AIR Studios
Associated Independent Recording (AIR) is an independent recording company founded in London in 1965 by record producers George Martin, John Burgess (record producer), John Burgess, Ron Richards (producer), Ron Richards, and Peter Sullivan (rec ...
in London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and was released on February 26, 2021 by Lakeshore Records
Lakeshore Village Entertainment, LLC was an American independent film production, finance, and former international sales and distribution company founded in 1994 by Tom Rosenberg and Ted Tannebaum. Lakeshore Entertainment is headquartered in Bev ...
and Apple Music
Apple Music is an audio and video streaming service developed by Apple Inc. Users can select music to stream to their device on-demand, or listen to existing playlists. The service also includes the sister internet radio stations Apple Musi ...
.
Track listing
Release
Apple Original Films and Apple TV+
Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...
acquired distribution rights to the film in September 2020 for around $40 million. The film was theatrically released on February 26, 2021, and was released on Apple TV+ on March 12, 2021.
Reception
Critical response
Review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
reports that 37% of 213 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.20/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "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." According to Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, which assigned the film a weighted average score of 44 out of 100 based on 45 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.
Writing for '' IndieWire'', David Ehrlich gave the film a grade of D and said, "...directors Anthony and Joe Russo paid uthor Nico Walker$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." He further states that Holland was miscast and "radiates so much friendly neighborhood sincerity that he can only wear his character's indifference like it's just another mask."
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for '' Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
of '' Variety'' said: "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," and later named it the worst film of 2021. ''The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...
''s David Rooney called the film "way overripe" and wrote: "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."
Matt Gallagher of ''The Intercept
''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing nonprofit news organization that publishes articles and podcasts online. ''The Intercept'' has published in English since its founding in 2014, and in Portuguese since the 2016 launch of the Brazilia ...
'' wrote that both the film and the book it was based upon have been criticized for erasing the actual victims of the crime, such as the bank teller whom Walker allegedly threatened to kill.
Awards and accolades
References
External links
*
Script
()
{{Authority control
2021 films
2021 crime drama films
2020s heist films
AGBO films
American crime drama films
American heist films
Apple TV+ original films
Films about bank robbery
Films about addiction
Films about drugs
Films about post-traumatic stress disorder
Films about veterans
Films based on American novels
Films directed by Anthony and Joe Russo
Films produced by Anthony and Joe Russo
Films produced by Mike Larocca
Films scored by Henry Jackman
Films set in 2002
Films set in 2003
Films set in 2005
Films set in 2007
Films set in 2021
Films set in Cleveland
Films shot in Cleveland
Films shot in Ohio
Iraq War films
2020s English-language films
2020s American films
English-language crime drama films
Films produced by Matthew Rhodes