We Review “Cherry” What’s Up at the Movies

𝔚𝔦𝔱𝔥 𝔢𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔶𝔬𝔫𝔢 𝔭𝔯𝔢𝔬𝔠𝔠𝔲𝔭𝔦𝔢𝔡 𝔬𝔫 𝔴𝔥𝔢𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔯 𝔪𝔬𝔳𝔦𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔰𝔲𝔯𝔳𝔦𝔳𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔭𝔞𝔫𝔡𝔢𝔪𝔦𝔠, 𝔦𝔱’𝔰 𝔢𝔞𝔰𝔶 𝔱𝔬 𝔪𝔦𝔰𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔰𝔱𝔯𝔢𝔞𝔪𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔯𝔢𝔳𝔬𝔩𝔲𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔥𝔞𝔭𝔭𝔢𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔯𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 𝔟𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔥 𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔣𝔢𝔢𝔱: 𝔑𝔢𝔱𝔣𝔩𝔦𝔵 𝔞𝔫𝔡 ℌ𝔲𝔩𝔲 𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔫’𝔱 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔤𝔞𝔪𝔢’𝔰 𝔬𝔫𝔩𝔶 𝔟𝔦𝔤-𝔪𝔬𝔫𝔢𝔶 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔶𝔢𝔯𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔶𝔪𝔬𝔯𝔢. 𝔎𝔫𝔬𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔰 𝔱𝔬𝔴𝔫 𝔞𝔦𝔫’𝔱 𝔟𝔦𝔤 𝔢𝔫𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔞𝔩𝔩 𝔬𝔣 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔪, 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔫𝔢𝔴 𝔨𝔦𝔡𝔰 𝔬𝔫 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔟𝔩𝔬𝔠𝔨 𝔞𝔯𝔢

Based on the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Nico Walker, Cherry is also the name of his surrogate protagonist (Holland), a young man who narrates the story of how he came to be a serial bank robber. He meets Emily (Ciara Bravo) while attending college and declares her the love of his life, but he impulsively enlists in the army after an argument that seemed to mean the end of their relationship. Though they reconcile and she agrees to wait for him while he serves two years in Iraq, he returns traumatized by the experience, and when America’s inadequate mental health infrastructure pushes him to self-medicate, the idyllic life he and Emily hoped to share looks increasingly out of reach.

𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓬𝓵𝓮𝓪𝓻𝓵𝔂 𝓶𝓪𝓭𝓮 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓵𝓸𝓯𝓽𝔂 𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼, 𝓒𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓲𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝓲𝓼𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮, 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓶𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓹𝓮𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓫𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓭𝓻𝓸𝔀𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓽𝔂𝓵𝓮. 𝓤𝓼𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓵𝔂, 𝓱𝓮𝓪𝓿𝓲𝓵𝔂 𝓼𝓽𝔂𝓵𝓲𝔃𝓮𝓭 𝓯𝓲𝓵𝓶𝓶𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓲𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓾𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓪 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓹𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓻 𝓼𝓽𝓸𝓻𝔂𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓵𝓭, 𝓫𝓾𝓽 𝓭𝓲𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓸𝓻𝓼 𝓙𝓸𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓐𝓷𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓷𝔂 𝓡𝓾𝓼𝓼𝓸 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓶𝓲𝓷𝓰𝓵𝔂 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓮𝓶𝓾𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓬𝓸𝓸𝓵 𝓶𝓸𝓿𝓲𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂’𝓿𝓮 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓷. 𝓣𝓱𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓱𝓪𝓹𝓼 𝓭𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓪 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵 𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓪𝓬𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓲𝓻 𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓼𝓱𝔂 𝓬𝓱𝓸𝓲𝓬𝓮𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓲𝓻𝓽𝓾𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓷𝓲𝓵, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓮𝓹𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓬𝓪𝓷’𝓽 𝓳𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓯𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 2𝓱20𝓶 𝓻𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮. 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓼𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓷𝓹𝓵𝓪𝔂 𝓼𝓾𝓻𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓫𝓵𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓵𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷 – 𝓲𝓽’𝓼 𝓾𝓷𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓮𝓷𝓰𝓪𝓰𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓲𝓯 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮𝓭 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓶𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓿𝓮𝓼.

𝓞𝓷𝓮 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓸𝓷 𝓘 𝓭𝓸𝓷’𝓽 𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭 𝓪𝓽 𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓹𝓸𝓷𝓼𝓲𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓣𝓸𝓶 𝓗𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓭, 𝔀𝓱𝓸 𝓭𝓮𝓵𝓲𝓿𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓪 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽, 𝓭𝓮𝓼𝓹𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓪𝓰𝓪𝓲𝓷𝓼𝓽 𝓱𝓲𝓶, 𝓶𝓪𝓷𝓪𝓰𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓸𝓬𝓬𝓪𝓼𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓱 𝓾𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓰. 𝓗𝓲𝓼 𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓪𝓬𝓽𝓮𝓻’𝓼 𝓹𝓪𝓲𝓷 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓲𝓷 𝓼𝓶𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓶𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓼 𝓸𝓯 𝓫𝓸𝓭𝔂 𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓾𝓪𝓰𝓮, 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓱 𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓪𝓷𝓲𝓬𝓴𝓮𝓭 𝔀𝓪𝔂 𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭𝓼 𝓾𝓹 𝓪 𝓫𝓪𝓷𝓴, 𝓸𝓻 𝓲𝓷 𝓰𝓵𝓪𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓼, 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮𝓻𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓔𝓶𝓲𝓵𝔂 𝓲𝓷 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓮𝔂𝓮𝓼 𝓪𝓼 𝓱𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼 𝓯𝓻𝓸𝓶 𝓪 𝓷𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽𝓶𝓪𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓰𝓻𝓲𝓹𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓱𝓪𝓴𝓮𝓼 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓸𝓭𝔂. 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓱𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝓮𝓷𝓸𝓾𝓰𝓱 𝓽𝓸 𝓬𝓪𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓿𝓲𝓮𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓮𝔁𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓷𝓸 𝓯𝓪𝓾𝓵𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝓪𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓽, 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓘 𝓵𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝔀𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓮𝓮𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓱𝓲𝓶 𝓽𝓪𝓴𝓮 𝓸𝓷 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓻𝓸𝓵𝓮𝓼 𝓲𝓷 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓿𝓮𝓲𝓷 (𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓓𝓮𝓿𝓲𝓵 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓣𝓲𝓶𝓮). 𝓐 𝓯𝓪𝓻 𝓶𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓸𝓹𝓮𝓷 𝓺𝓾𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷, 𝓱𝓸𝔀𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻, 𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓱𝓮𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓡𝓾𝓼𝓼𝓸 𝓫𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓭𝓵𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓽𝔂𝓹𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓲𝓪𝓵 𝓪𝓼 𝓼𝓾𝓬𝓬𝓮𝓼𝓼𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓪𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓭𝓸 𝓼𝓾𝓹𝓮𝓻𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓸 𝓫𝓵𝓸𝓬𝓴𝓫𝓾𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓣𝓥 𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓮𝓭𝓲𝓮𝓼. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓼 𝓪𝓯𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓱𝓮𝔂 𝓭𝓮𝓬𝓲𝓭𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓰𝓮𝓽 𝓐𝓹𝓹𝓵𝓮 𝓣𝓥+, 𝓘 𝓻𝓮𝓬𝓸𝓶𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓻𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓣𝓮𝓭 𝓛𝓪𝓼𝓼𝓸 – 𝓲𝓽 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓬𝓾𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓪𝓹𝓹𝓸𝓲𝓷𝓽𝓶𝓮𝓷𝓽 𝓒𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓻𝔂 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓵𝓮𝓯𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱.

 𝔪𝔞𝔨𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔭𝔩𝔞𝔶𝔰 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫, 𝔥𝔬𝔭𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔬 𝔤𝔢𝔫𝔢𝔯𝔞𝔱𝔢 𝔢𝔫𝔬𝔲𝔤𝔥 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔳𝔢𝔯𝔰𝔞𝔱𝔦𝔬𝔫 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔱𝔬 𝔰𝔲𝔟𝔰𝔠𝔯𝔦𝔟𝔢 𝔬𝔲𝔱 𝔬𝔣 𝔉𝔒𝔐𝔒. 𝔄𝔭𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔗𝔙+ 𝔥𝔬𝔭𝔢𝔰 𝔱𝔥𝔢𝔦𝔯 𝔫𝔢𝔴𝔢𝔰𝔱 𝔣𝔦𝔩𝔪, ℭ𝔥𝔢𝔯𝔯𝔶, 𝔴𝔦𝔩𝔩 𝔟𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔥𝔬𝔬𝔨 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔟𝔯𝔦𝔫𝔤𝔰 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢 𝔦𝔫, 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔦𝔱 𝔪𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱 – 𝔨𝔫𝔬𝔴𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔦𝔱’𝔰 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔡𝔦𝔯𝔢𝔠𝔱𝔬𝔯𝔰 𝔬𝔣 𝔄𝔳𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯𝔰: 𝔈𝔫𝔡𝔤𝔞𝔪𝔢 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔰𝔱𝔞𝔯𝔰 𝔐𝔞𝔯𝔳𝔢𝔩’𝔰 𝔠𝔲𝔯𝔯𝔢𝔫𝔱 𝔖𝔭𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔯-𝔐𝔞𝔫, 𝔗𝔬𝔪 ℌ𝔬𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔡, 𝔦𝔰 𝔞 𝔡𝔯𝔞𝔴 𝔣𝔬𝔯 𝔪𝔞𝔫𝔶. 𝔅𝔲𝔱 ℑ 𝔠𝔞𝔫 𝔰𝔞𝔶 𝔣𝔞𝔦𝔯𝔩𝔶 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔣𝔦𝔡𝔢𝔫𝔱𝔩𝔶 𝔦𝔱 𝔴𝔬𝔫’𝔱 𝔟𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔱𝔥𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔨𝔢𝔢𝔭𝔰 𝔭𝔢𝔬𝔭𝔩𝔢

 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 𝔟𝔞𝔦𝔩𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔞𝔣𝔱𝔢𝔯 𝔱𝔥𝔢 𝔣𝔯𝔢𝔢 𝔱𝔯𝔦𝔞𝔩.