Cherry has generated a lot of negative buzz before its release on Apple+ TV. Helmed by the Russo brothers and inspired by Nico Walker's semi-autobiographical 2018 novel of the same name, Cherry follows Tom Holland's character transformation from Army medic to a drug-addicted bank robber. Despite the Marvel actor's star powers, a majority of critical reviews say the film is too bleak and unoriginal to satisfy most viewers.
Cherry features Holland as an Iraq war veteran suffering from PTSD and drug addiction. He enlists in the Army after the flames of his first love fizzle out and returns a hardened man. In order to pay for opiates, he starts robbing banks. This triggers him to fall deeper into depression alongside his college girlfriend, who drops into his addiction just as hard, if not harder.
Currently, Cherry's Tomatometer sits at 40% over on Rotten Tomatoes, though audiences seem to be enjoying it more than critics, as that score is 76%. Many critics cite that Cherry exists to demonstrate Holland's acting chops and the Russos' directing abilities beyond the Marvel brand. While this is a chance for them to explore other genres outside of the MCU franchise, critical opinion deems Cherry too formulaic to have it stand it out from other war veteran movies. Tom Holland delivers a solid performance, but the flashy extravagance seems very self-indulgent and favors style over substance. That being said, let's take a look at the top critical reviews for Cherry.
No one in it is likable, let alone endearing or lovable. And nothing is understated, ever ever ever. Economists may disagree on the threat of inflation, but it’s the curse of this madly overwrought film, which attempts to inflate a gritty novel about the horrors of war and opioid addiction into the epic journey of a troubled soul from alienation through nihilism to salvation.
But none of the tricksy visuals or ostentatious embellishments, like profane insults splashed across the screen in blood-red text, make you care about the characters. Which is too bad for Holland, who hurls himself into the role with the misapprehension that Cherry has something profound to say about the protagonist's dark existential void.
CNN:
For all that, "Cherry" almost can't help but feel as if it's stringing together cinematic cliches, from war movies to crime capers. The same goes for the portentous narration -- lines like "Sometimes I feel like I've already seen everything that's gonna happen" -- and the way the chapters partition the story in spanning his service and its aftermath.
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.”
Conversely, there are some critical reviews that favor the film. A few critics laud Tom Holland's non-Spider-Man role and the realistic way in which addiction is portrayed. They also praise Ciara Bravo, who plays girlfriend Emily, in her most heartbreaking performance yet. Here are some of the most positive outlooks on the film.
“Cherry” is at times almost overwhelming in its raw and real depiction of addiction and how it can destroy lives, but also chill-inducing with its promise of a possible lasting light at the end of the tunnel.
“Cherry” is like three different movies in one: the teen years, the war experience, and then life as a drug addict. It’s held together by the smart writing, by the overarching tone of tragic absurdity, and by Holland, who hits every bump on Cherry’s way down. He goes from a thoughtful guy who can’t think his way out of a trap to a guy who can barely think at all.
Ciara Bravo, as Cherry’s girlfriend, wife and eventual partner in junkie-dom, is at times the performer who has the strongest emotional hold on the viewer, and the most memorable find here.
Despite these significantly brighter outlooks on Cherry, it seems that the general consensus leans more towards the negative. Most critics say Cherry is a hard movie to get through because of its darker tone, serious content, and unlikeable characters. Whether audiences keep reacting positively to this new facet of Tom Holland and the Russo brothers remains to be seen.
