"Cherry (2021)" movie review

Is this movie meant to be released in audiobook format; if not, why use all the pointless narration.

Do you remember the hilarious film from Mr. Bean’s Holiday (2007) starring Willem Dafoe. Willem thinks he made an artsy film with a marvelous plot. In reality, the nonsensical unnecessary narration, mambo jumbo direction put together an awful movie that made the audience laugh. Take that movie and stretch it for 2h 21m you will get “Cherry (2021)”.

“Cherry (2021)” is based on the novel of the same name by Nico Walker. Follows a young man Cherry who enlists in the Us army after he breaks up with his girlfriend, Emily. Cherry serves as a medic in Iraq, witnessing several horrific events in the war for two years affects his physical and mental health. After returning home with Emily, to cope with his PTSD, he began to cram in drugs. Soon his life turns upside down; his addiction to drugs leads him to rob a bank for money.

The only good thing I could think of from this movie is Tom Holland’s performance. As I said in my “The Devil All the Time (2020)” review, he will have a great career outside of the marvel movies. Here he tried his best, but the poorly written character and the structure didn’t let Tom Holland shine as he did in his previous film “The Devil All the Time (2020)“. At times the character seemed to be miscast, maybe because of Holland’s age or personality. It didn’t convince me as Tom Cruise did in “Born on the Fourth of July (1989)”, even though Tom Holland’s age and the character he played are at the same age. Particularly in the ending, seeing Tom Holland with a mustache made me laugh. And I don’t want to start with the Ciara Bravo role. She seemed like a kid playing with drugs.

Is this movie meant to be released in audiobook format; if not, why use all the pointless narration. I know “Cherry (2021)” is trying to do like “Forrest Gump (1994)” where Tom Hanks narrates the story and character thoughts. And like Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver (1976)” movie, the voice-over helps the audience glimpse into the character’s schizophrenic mind. But the film “Cherry (2021)” doesn’t look like it achieved that in any manner. The narration lines are weakly written, and the worst part is it narrates what just happens, like if we are blind. Sometimes it uses voice-over for its lazy storytelling. The narration in the movie is tedious and uninteresting to listen to.

The movie strived to be artsy but failed in many aspects. The flashy camera filter and color palettes mostly used for teenage rom-com movies are quite unsuitable here. I never really understand what it is trying to present with its camera work; sometimes, it uses Wes Anderson’s style. At times, it wildly uses slo-mo and tries to be many things. None of them did any favor to the story, and it feels exaggerated. After cutting ties with the marvel, Russo brothers who directed brilliant movies like “The Winter Soldier” and “Civil War,” disappointed with last year’s fruitless screenplay with “Extraction (2020)” now “Cherry (2021)” with their inadequate execution. The tone, style, and composition they chose for the Cherry did not emphasize the plot, character, or movie at all. And this makes the 2 hr 30 min unbearable long. I am deliberately choosing not to discuss the screenplay of Cherry if I did it look like Flogging a dead horse.

Conclusion: The movie strived to be artsy, but it failed in many aspects: exaggerated direction, nonsensical unnecessary narration, and unbearable length for this awful movie.I certainly wouldn’t recommend this film. My rating is 4/10.

Director: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo
Cast: Tom Holland, Ciara Bravo, Jack Reynor
Genre: Crime, Drama