Cherrybomb

Throughout this movie I kept having flashes to this last season of Skins. The whole Freddie/Effy/Cook theme was played out a bit differently, but with the same type of terrible results. Granted, Malachy and Luke had a more respect for each other, but Michelle was the same sort of Effy character. Other than that the movie had the same type of a feel. Sex, drugs, and bit of violence sprinkled together as a coming of age story.

The characters were well played and each had their own problems and envy of the other's lives for one reason or another. Robert Sheehan was commendable in his role as a struggling young man only looking for acceptance and a family above all else. And that's seems to be what made his relationship with Malachy perfect. Sheehan played the perfect balance of needing others while being forced in to a role of independence that was obviously unwanted.

Rupert Grint also did a admirable job in his role of smothered young man looking to spread his wings and be himself, a role he seems to find himself playing again and again lately. He fights with his deep rooted ideals of how people should be treated against his behavior when he tries to get what he wants. Grint seems to find a happy medium in this character and makes him feel true and at time conflicted. My only qualm with his performance is the accent seemed to slip at times and I felt it was unbelievable.

When I walked into the movie I certainly thought I was going to see something much harsher and quite different, the plot summery and trailer were quite deceiving, but I was pleasantly surprised by this movie and expect much more from these actors. The story line wasn't detailed, but it never tends to be with these types of movies. What's left unsaid speaks louder than anything that could be written.

This is basically a story about 2 boys liking the same girl, and how both try to outdo each other to impress her.

It's not a new story, but it added a little difference to the common plot - the 2 guys are like magnetic opposites who happen to be best friends. Rupert Grint plays Malachy - a sensible sort who has a close and postcard-normal family and has apparently no serious problems; Robert Sheehan (still good but this is not his best work) is Luke, a drug dealer with an addict father and dealer-boss brother, whom you look at and wonder why he isn't more screwed-up than he already appears to be. Kimberly Nixon is Michelle, the girl they're trying to impress and bed, but her performance was the lousiest of the 3.

The first half builds properly. It was fun to see how they tried to outdo each other in order to impress the girl. There was also a bit of family drama (for Luke and Michelle at least) thrown in - something I thought would lead to more exploration in the second half.

Alas, the next half of the movie let me down. I couldn't feel more for the characters than the little I already did, and I felt like I was meant to as the film progresses towards its climax. It spent too little time exploring the changing dynamics between the friends, and it failed to convince me how the friends could seemingly be driven apart so easily. The ending wasn't as good as I hoped it would be.

A few other things I took issue with: film editing left something to be desired, camera work needed improvement, the film could have been scored better, the actors chosen better (they seemed to be chosen based on their popularity than their suitability for the film).

5.5/10

Cherrybomb is a song title and funnily enough, I just watched the movie Runaways before I watched this one. The song also features in short scene in this movie. And the movie has some raw power to it, as the song (and the group that sang it) has! But the movie is more than that. It is also more than the beginning suggests.

While you might not entirely relate to the characters, you hopefully still will feel for them. The performances are more than stellar and everyone of the characters has his/her flaws. It's not a perfect movie, but it has some strong points and is made with passion (the actors and the crew involved), which is apparent on screen.

If you're looking for a truly forgettable film to fall asleep to, then you'd be hard pushed to beat this slow, soporific piece of celluloid...

The plot plods painfully and predictably along at a pace more suited to a party political broadcast than what is laughably described as a thriller.

The acting wouldn't seem out of place on a TV shopping channel or an ultra-low budget kids TV show. Admittedly, the cast didn't exactly have a whole bunch to work with: the dialogue is nothing short of dismal and the characters are so two dimensional and clichéd that it renders any empathy towards the protagonists nigh on impossible.

The ending is not thrilling or exciting and overall, the story fails to impress.

There is plenty of smoking, so if you are into watching people smoke and tell each other to F -OFF, then this is for you, however I was unimpressed.

Sheehan is marvelous in this. All the lead characters were fun to watch. And who doesn't like films about drugs and stealing. Highly recommend this one!