Cherry

I love this movie. I really do. And maybe that's because of my earlier personal experiences in life, but I find this film so relatable. The acting is great, the story is brilliant and I am proud to say it's my new favorite movie (and my previous one was American Beauty).

It's a gem and unfortunately it will never win an Oscar even if it deserves one. It brings out so many emotions in me. I've cried both times I've seen and that's not usual for me.

Now that I've raised the expectations through the roof you might not find it as awesome as I did, but I can assure you it's worth the watch. My words however aren't sufficient enough, my words don't make this movie any justice, you have to see it to understand why it's so great.

Delivers a great message about the messiness of humanity, contrasted with the precision of science. Great performances by the 14 year old and the college roommate. Smartly written. Polished story.. and funny too.

I had the pleasure of seeing this movie at SXSW this year, and even briefly go to meet the filmmaker - all and all, I really like this movie.

There's something personal to this coming of age story that we can all relate to - our first time. Our first year at college, the first time we thought we were in love, got our heartbroken, failed, followed our dreams, stuck up for ourselves, etc.

The story is simple - our hero, Aaron, starts his first year at an Ivy League school. It's his first chance to get away from his controlling mother, who has planned most of his life, and he can now follow more of his own dreams. He struggles a little bit with making friends and making the grades, but doesn't start finding himself until he meets single mother, Linda, and her daughter, Beth.

They all struggle with acceptance for who they are and who they want to be - waiting for life to happen to them instead of making life happen for them.

This movie is fun, humorous, and enjoyable. Every performance in this movie is worth seeing, from the acting to the film making. If you have the chance to see it, I recommend it.

You know those great little indie films from the states like 'Junebug', 'Thumbsucker' and 'World's Greatest Dad' to name but a few, well now you can add to that list 'Cherry' a charming coming of age human nature piece that each and every one can in some way relate to. It's a simple enough story, Aaron leaves home to embark on his freshman year and falls for an older student Linda, Linda a recovering alcoholic has a wise cracking, old before her years, daughter called Beth, Beth falls for Aaron and a bizarre unrequited love triangle opens up learning curves, home truths and life experience for all three. The great thing about this movie is the quality of the script, the acting and the use of music, no CGI or special effects are needed to convey the very real story contained. It has ups and downs, laughs and gasps and at an hour and a half is perfectly paced. Without sounding twee or patronising if something like Transformers is a beer then this is a nice cup of tea and a sit down, which is no bad thing, some blockbusters feel like being repeated hit in the face with laptop but sometimes you just need to be told a good solid entertaining story, Cherry is just that. I just hope lots of people get to see this film because it deserves it.

Some reviewers are talking about Oscars for this movie, let's just not exaggerate, I'll admit it's an entertaining movie but not an award winning one, not even close to an Oscar. It's an easy watch, something where you don't have to think too much. Some reviewers cried apparently, and I wonder why as there is nothing to cry about. I had some laughs though, there are a couple funny scenes, not hilarious ones but good enough to put a smile on my face. The acting was convincing, from the whole cast. Not sure if the sexes were the other way round if people would still think it's as lovely for a story but that said Cherry is worth a watch.