Cherry (2021)
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2025-09 to 2026-08
A PTSD-afflicted veteran turns to a life of bank robbery to fund a spiraling drug addiction with his wife.
The story
College student Cherry falls in love with his classmate Emily, but after she decides to study in Montreal, he enlists in the Army as a medic to cope with his heartbreak. They eventually marry before his deployment. During his two-year service, Cherry suffers from PTSD after witnessing the death of a friend. Upon returning home, he begins abusing OxyContin to manage his symptoms. His growing addiction eventually leads his wife, Emily, to also become addicted to the medication. The couple's escalating dependency on drugs leads them into a dangerous cycle of crime to fund their habits.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After the couple's drug stash is seized by a dealer named Pills and Coke, Cherry begins robbing banks to pay back the debt and fund their addiction. His condition worsens, and Emily nearly dies from an overdose. After a period of separation, they reunite, and Cherry enlists others to help him rob multiple tellers at once. During one heist, his partner is shot and killed, and Cherry is forced to flee. Later, a debt collector named Black confronts Cherry. After a final robbery where he gives Black all the money, Cherry intentionally alerts the police and is arrested. He serves 14 years in prison, and upon his release, he is reunited with Emily.
- First release year
- 2021
- Runtime (minutes)
- 141
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Joe Russo
- Writers
- Angela Russo-Otstot · screenplay; Jessica Goldberg · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Tom Holland · Cherry; Ciara Bravo · Emily; Jack Reynor; Jeff Wahlberg
- Genres
- crime drama
- Themes
- PTSD; drug addiction; consequences of crime
- Tone and mood
- grim
- Premise and plot tags
- heist; veteran; drug addiction
- Source material / true-story basis
- Nico Walker's semi-autobiographical 2018 novel
- Reception
- The film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the lead performances but criticized the writing and direction.
- Reported review scores
- Rotten Tomatoes · score: 37% · scale: percentage · review count: 212; Metacritic · score: 44 · scale: 100 · review count: 45
- Production trivia
- The production was moved from Ohio to California and then back to Ohio due to tax incentive changes.; The film was based on a novel for which the producers paid $1 million for the rights.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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