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CHERRY (2021)

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What You Need To Know:

Streaming now on Apple TV+, CHERRY follows a young man, played by SPIDER-MAN star, Tom Holland, who goes to war during his prime college years. He returns to his hometown of Ohio only to be haunted by PTSD. After some time back on American soil, he and his wife become drug addicts and abuse alcohol too. However, they don’t have the funds to keep up their bad habits. So, the veteran takes to stealing from banks.

CHERRY has a strong pagan, immoral, mixed worldview. The protagonist wanders through life until he meets a woman who gives him some purpose. He also acts according to his own whims, which leads to his criminal behavior. Positively, the movie has some strong patriotic feelings toward American servicemen. However, this attitude is undermined by a harsh, one-sided portrayal that military men in power only look to abuse their rank. Aside from some warped, unbiblical talk about love, CHERRY has more than 350 obscenities, 14 strong profanities, some extreme violence and sexual content, drug and alcohol abuse, and other immorality. Ultimately, CHERRY is an abhorrent, unsatisfying movie for everyone.

Content:

(PaPaPa, RoRo, PP, APAP, B, C, LLL, VVV, SSS, N, AAA, DDD, MM):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Very strong immoral, rather cynical, pagan, somewhat mixed worldview, with some strong Romantic elements, where main character wanders through life until he meets a woman who gives him some purpose, but he also acts according to his own whims which leads to his criminal behavior, plus some strong patriotic elements honoring servicemen who initially sign up to go to war, some anti-patriotic elements in a harsh and one-sided portrayal of military men in power who only look to abuse their rank, some moral elements such as love to one’s partner a quick scene where a man responsibly joins the army to provide for his family, and marriage is extolled, and brief light Christian elements such as a church and crucifix with Jesus depicted

Foul Language:
At least 355 obscenities (including about 280 “f” words), seven JC profanities, seven GD profanities, two OMG profanities, multiple references to private parts with slang terms in negative connotations, and a woman poops her pants

Violence:
Very strong and other violence includes mention of war, protagonist robs banks at gunpoint and fires guns, implied domestic abuse of a man’s daughter in one scene where the camera shows she has a black eye, depicted attempted suicide by hanging, drill sergeant recounts a story of running over children while overseas, depicted war complete with gunshots and several explosions, blood depicted in many scenes, guts of a soldier shown, implied rape, drunk character at a bar can’t stop talking about pointing a gun to someone’s head, dead bodies shown with burnt flesh, man punches a mirror, and his hand bleeds, man holds a gun to an intruder’s head but doesn’t shoot, thoughts of suicide mentioned, choking, man stabs himself repeatedly with a syringe, man jumps out of a moving car and has a bloody mouth afterward, and a gun is fired flippantly in the middle of the street

Sex:
Graphic explanation of anal sex, male college student crudely mentions he’d like to have sexual relations with a woman in his class, sultry dancing, implied fornication between two unmarried college students, and the woman says he can do whatever he wants to her body, mention of porn but the character doesn’t claim to watch it, and movie’s title refers to the first time a woman has sexual intercourse

Nudity:
College female appears in her bra and underwear before an implied sex scene, implied full female nudity and depicted upper male nudity in a post-fornication scene, camera shot of an implied anal examination during a physical, young men appear in underwear during a basic training exercise, husband has a fantasy of his wife in her bra and underwear, implied full male nudity as soldiers shower, cheerleaders appear in a bedazzled bra, naked woman appears sitting in the shower, but her private parts are not shown

Alcohol Use:
Drinking a party and drunkenness, social drinking at a restaurant, and waiter takes a shot on the job, drunk man in a bar, and then he drives a character home, but they make it unscathed, alcoholism, and alcohol is mixed with drugs

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
Smoking, marijuana usage, Xanax abuse, protagonist gets high off Extasy, a female recounts that someone told her to put drugs up her rear end, soldiers get vaccines at basic training, oxycontin abuse, and drugs mixed with alcohol, married couple shoots drugs in their arm, cocaine snorted, drug dealer almost gives a woman syringe of drugs, a marijuana bong used; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:
Robberies, college student cheats on his girlfriend, lewd name-calling, sergeants have no regard for the people they’re supposed to be protecting, breaking and entering, threats, two men leave a man for dead, and marital discord.

More Detail:

Streaming on Apple TV+, CHERRY follows a young man and his rise and fall from college student, war medic and then drug dealer, junkie and bank robber. CHERRY is too slow and jumpy and has a strong, somewhat mixed, immoral pagan worldview with constant foul language, substance abuse, and extreme violence and sexual immorality.

CHERRY is told in chapters and begins with a young man robbing a bank at gunpoint. Cut to a prologue, where the protagonist, an unnamed 23-year-old male, says he doesn’t know why people do things. Shortly after, viewers enter Part 1 of the story, which takes place in 2002. The same protagonist is in college at a Jesuit school and sees a young woman, Emily. Although he has a girlfriend at another college, he takes a liking to Emily, and there’s a flirtation.

This young man goes to the bank to fix an overdraft charge, but runs into trouble, foreshadowing what’s to come. The protagonist joins the army since Emily says she’s going to study abroad in Montreal. However, she doesn’t end up going because she doesn’t want to leave him. So, they go to a courthouse and get hitched.

Part Two of CHERRY zones in on the protagonist’s basic training. Viewers see the sergeants haze and abuse their cadets. In Part Three, titled Cherry, the protagonist sees war up close as a medic who takes care of his fellow servicemen. War is rough and even rougher on the protagonist.

In Part Four, the protagonist returns home to his wife, Emily, but things are challenging. There’s so much PTSD in his head that he seeks the help of a physiatrist. The psychiatrist prescribes him a painkiller, but when he mixes his meds with hard drugs and alcohol, Emily gets indignant until she joins her husband’s destructive behavior in Part Five. Eventually, they both become junkies and start to rob banks to fuel their habits.

CHERRY features Marvel’s current SPIDER-MAN star, Tom Holland, in a complete 180 from his superhero role, which will either enthrall or deter viewers. According to Holland, he took the role because the directors, who also have worked with Holland on other Marvel projects, asked him to participate. Holland’s character is unnamed because they wanted to portray a conglomeration of multiple characters all in one. In terms of filmmaking, there are a few interesting stylistic shots using a fisheye lens and bird’s eye views. Also, the chapter titles help distinguish onscreen events. However, the movie feels too jumpy, is very slow and has a depressing ending. The music is melodic, though, and matches the main character’s pensive nature.

CHERRY has a very strong pagan, somewhat mixed, worldview. The protagonist is Romantic early in the movie and seems to wander through life until he meets a woman who gives him some purpose. However, he also acts according to his own whims. This eventually leads to his criminal behavior. Positively, the movie has some strong patriotic feelings toward American servicemen who initially sign up to go to war. However, this attitude is undermined by a harsh, one-sided portrayal that military men in power only abuse their rank. Aside from some other warped “I Love You’s” that don’t align with biblical principles, CHERRY has more than 350 obscenities, 14 strong profanities, some extreme violence, strong sexual content, drug and alcohol abuse, and other immoral content. Ultimately, CHERRY is an abhorrent, painfully cynical and unsatisfying movie for everyone.

Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.


Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.

What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.

You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.

Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.