Cherry | 2021 | R | – 5.8.10

Why is “Cherry” rated R? The MPAA rating has been assigned for “graphic drug abuse, disturbing and violent images, pervasive language, and sexual content.” The Kids-In-Mind.com evaluation includes an implied sex scene with partial nudity, a masturbation act, several scenes of partial nudity of both men and women, a view from inside a rectum during a medical exam, scenes of combat violence and gore with very bloody and gory wounds shown, an attempted suicide, several armed bank robberies without injuries, a gunshot wound that leads to death, a near death from an overdose, military basic training hazing, many scenes of drug use and escalating addiction, and over 275 F-words and other strong language. Read our parents’ guide below for details on sexual content, violence & strong language.

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After serving as an Army medic in Afghanistan, a young man (Tom Holland) returns home to his wife (Ciara Bravo) and they struggle to deal with his PTSD and developing addiction. As debts mount, he determines that robbing banks may be an expedient way to solve his financial problems. Also with Jack Reynor, Michael Rispoli, Jeff Wahlberg, Forrest Goodluck, Michael Gandolfini, Daniel R. Hill and Fionn O’Shea. Directed by Anthony & Joe Russo. [Running Time: 2:20]

Cherry SEX/NUDITY 5

 – A young woman and a young man kiss passionately in a dorm room, the young woman removes her clothes (we see her wearing a bra and underwear and see cleavage, her bare abdomen and legs), and she lies on a bed and tells the young man, “Do whatever you want man”; the young man touches the young woman’s bare abdomen and they kiss (sex is implied). A young man masturbates in a portable toilet and we see rhythmic movement and hear grunting.
► A young man and a young woman lie in bed together and he traces her bare hip, back and shoulders with his finger, he kisses her shoulder and we see his bare shoulder and chest. A husband and his wife hug and kiss. A young man and a young woman walk together and kiss. A young man and a young woman kiss in a café after getting married at a courthouse.
► Several women wearing cheerleader outfits that reveal their cleavage, bare abdomens and legs to the hips dance on a stage as soldiers watch, holler and make suggestive gestures. A young woman approaches a young woman at a party and he touches her hip as they walk; the young woman writhes and thrusts while people in the room watch and her date seems upset (he wonders how she knows so many guys at a new college) and her dress lifts to reveal part of her underwear.
► A young man tells a young woman that he likes her. A young man looks at a young woman in a lecture hall and makes a sexual remark to himself; the young woman looks at him and smiles. A young man talks about a young woman and how she likes to have sex. A young woman talks about her father’s infidelity and that when she confronted him about it, he bribed her not to tell her mother. A young man talks about another young man getting “his girl pregnant.”
► During a medical exam, a young man is bent over an exam table as an army doctor looks at his rectum (we have a view from inside the rectum out through the anus); the young man holds his hands on his buttocks (presumably spreading them apart). A young woman wears a low-cut and short dress that reveals cleavage, bare shoulders and bare legs to the upper thighs. A young woman’s off-the-shoulders sweater reveals her bare shoulders. A young man wears boxer shorts and a T-shirt that reveal his bare legs to the upper thighs. Recruits in basic training are made to remove their clothing and duck walk wearing only their underwear (we see bare backs, chests, abdomens and legs to the upper thighs). Two men are shown in showers and we see their bare chest, shoulders, backs and legs to the knees. A young woman wears a bra and sport shorts in a few scenes (we see cleavage, bare abdomen and legs to the upper thighs). A young woman wears a tank top and underwear and we see cleavage, nipples through the fabric of her top and bare legs to the hips.

Cherry VIOLENCE/GORE 8

 – An Army vehicle encounters gunfire and we see vehicles in flames; medics move toward a wounded soldier and we see his intestines exposed in an open abdominal wound; the soldier is taken to a helicopter and we see blood trickle from his mouth as they fly away. An Army vehicle with four men in it drives away from another vehicle trapped in mud and we hear an explosion; a young man runs to the vehicle in flames and finds the four men inside dead (we see their charred bodies).
► A young man jumps out of a moving car after arguing with a woman; we see him lying on the road with a bloody face wound and blood in his mouth. A young woman is shown with blue-tinged skin and unconscious as she is wheeled into an emergency room; we understand that she has taken heroin and we see her on oxygen and an IV later. A young man injects himself with a drug and then repeatedly stabs himself in the leg with the hypodermic needle causing blood to seep into his pant leg. A young man and a young woman are shown in stupors in several scenes after taking OxyContin and injecting heroin. A young woman shakes and cries when trying to prepare a drug for injection. A young man injects himself in the foot with heroin, his eyes roll back in his head and he falls backward on the ground. A young man lies on a flight of stairs unconscious after taking drugs. A young man injects a young woman in the arm with heroin in several scenes.
► Two young men go into a bank to rob it, one young man fires the gun accidentally and leaves, and the other panics and follows him out. A young man charges into a bank lobby and fires a gun in the air while yelling for a teller to give him all the money in her drawer. A young man with a gun shows a bank teller a dollar bill with the words, “I have a gun,” and “This is a robbery” written on it. A young man breaks into a house where the homeowner draws a gun and yells at him, and the young man is arrested and he is taken away yelling. A young man shoots a gun into the air on a street and then throws the gun into bushes along the side of the street.
► Several boys shove and hit a young girl to get a bag of snacks away from her (we see her fall to the ground). We hear a commotion in a car and a woman screams to stop as a man yells and calls her names and it is implied that he is sexually assaulting her (we do not see anything). A young man shoves a young woman against a pillar in a bus depot when she refuses to go back to rehab; two men approach the young woman asking if she is OK and they tell the young man not to touch her.
► A drill sergeant chokes a recruit and drops him to the ground unconscious. A drill sergeant punches a recruit in the crotch and then orders him to stand to attention. A man punches a young man in the crotch and says, “Cup check.” Men wrestle in an army camp. Two men yell at each other in a theater; one man goes to the bathroom and punches the mirror breaking it and cutting his hand (we see blood).
► A young man throws a toaster against a wall after burning toast. A young man asks if he can punch another young man in the genitals. A young man is physically removed from a bank after he yells at a man for not cashing checks for him. A man drinks to excess in a bar and drives a young man home, driving up on the curb at one point. Two young men try to break open a safe to get to drugs inside it; they drop it over a balcony, they pound on it, they use a crow bar and eventually it opens spilling drugs all over the floor. A young man and a young woman flush a lot of drugs down a toilet when they fear the police are at the door. A young man talks about people trying to kill themselves in the army and we see a young man hanging from a pipe in the distance; the pipe breaks and he falls to the floor moaning. A young man talks about not sleeping and that he dreamed of violence; we see him thrashing and whimpering in his sleep.
► A man refers to the people in the Cosa Nostra blowing people’s brains out with a gun. A young woman yells at her husband who is lying in a bathtub, in a stupor. A man yells at a young man at a pizza restaurant when the young man tries to throw a crust and does not manage to. A young man yells at other young men insisting that they cannot enlist. A young man asks, “I wonder if life was wasted on me.” A young man talks about another young man’s parents having died and that his brother returned from the war, “All messed up.” A young man argues with a bank teller about an overdraft charge and the teller refuses to reverse it. A young man says that he takes Xanax for panic attacks. A young woman is shown with a black eye in a flashback and it is implied that there was a violent encounter with her father. A young man and a young woman argue and he asks, “Tell me you’re kidding,” when she tells him she is leaving the country to study. A man is referred to as having a “face like death” and we see him only in heavy shadow with tattoos on his face and around his eye. A comment is made about someone and that “he might wig out.” A drill sergeant talks about “hand grenade children” and that he had to run them over with his vehicle. A young man driving in an Army vehicle talks about expecting to be shot at any moment. A young man says about serving in the army in Afghanistan, “Everything there was about dying.” A man says that another man will, “Eat your eyes out with a spoon.” A man says, “He’s gonna kill us all.” A woman threatens a young man to leave her daughter alone or she will harm him. A young man complains that he can’t get the blood out of his wedding band after working on wounded soldiers.
► A young man is shown with a bloody bullet wound in his abdomen and we understand that he is dead when he is put on a sidewalk under a bridge and left there. During a medical exam a young man is bent over an exam table as an army doctor looks inside his rectum (we have a view from inside the rectum out through the anus); the young man holds his hands on his buttocks (presumably spreading them apart). During medic training we see mannequins with bloody wounds including a missing leg with bone and tissue exposed, and blood squirting from an open wound. A man spits in a cup (presumably chewing tobacco; we do not see goo). People with wounds on their arms and hands from being bound are shown and they are bandaged by medics. A young man has panic attacks in several scenes and we see that he is having flashbacks to wounded people with open bloody wounds.
► A young man, restrained and lying on the floor of a jail cell, quakes uncontrollably and vomits blood (we see blood spray and splatter on the floor). A young man and a young woman vomit repeatedly in various places in their home and we see goo on their clothing, in the toilet on the bathtub; the young man is shown seated on a toilet and we understand that he is suffering from diarrhea also. A young woman complains that she soiled her pants during a class (we do not see anything). A young man wakes up on a park bench and pulls a hypodermic needle out of his arm (we see some scabs on his arm). A young woman is shown with scabs on her face and lips.
► A car breaks down and steam pours from under the hood; we later see the car on fire as the driver stands on a sidewalk watching. A young man drives through abandoned warehouses and factories. A drill sergeant yells at recruits in several scenes calling them names and demeaning them; we see recruits having their heads shaved and receiving injections.

Cherry LANGUAGE 10

 – About 276 F-words and its derivatives, 3 obscene hand gestures, 4 sexual references, 52 scatological terms, 28 anatomical terms, 13 mild obscenities, many derogatory terms for Afghani people, name-calling (crazy, fanatic, [anatomical term deleted] nugget, Pills & Coke, spoiled, rat, flaming [anatomical term deleted], glorified scarecrows, scumbag, dumber than [F-word deleted], downer, retard, make-believe, junkie, rude, sad bastard, weird guy, jerk, shady, slug, weak, [anatomical term deleted] with ears, ugly [anatomical term deleted] holster, bubba, joker, cold-blooded), exclamations (shut-up, jabberwocky, hey, [F-word deleted] kidding me, mishmash, kill yourself), 7 religious profanities (GD), 14 religious exclamations (e.g. My God, Oh My God, Jesus, For Christ’s Sake, Jesus Christ, Holy [scatological term deleted]). | profanity glossary |

Cherry SUBSTANCE USE

 – A young man smokes a large marijuana cigarette in a car, four young men smoke marijuana on a street while walking, a young man shares Xanax with his friends, a man takes several pills when he has panic attacks, two young men snort crushed up pills, a young man injects a young woman in the arm with heroin in several scenes, a young man injects himself in the foot, a young woman and two young men are shown passed out on the floor after taking a lot of drugs, a young man smokes a drug from a water pipe, a young man lies on a flight of stairs unconscious after taking drugs, a young man takes a prescription pill with a beer, a young woman takes a prescription pill, and several young men take Ecstasy at a party. A young man holds a bottle of beer, several people drink shots at a restaurant, a man drinks to excess in a bar and drives a young man home. Young men and women drink (some to excess) at a college party. A young man asks if he can smoke in a voice-over, a young man smokes cigarettes in several scenes throughout the movie, a young woman smokes a cigarette, and a young man has a cigarette tucked behind his ear.

Cherry DISCUSSION TOPICS

 – Life choices, heartbreak, lost love, death of friends and loved ones, PTSD, suicide, comradery, military service and support, drug addiction, OxyContin, heroin, armed robbery.

Cherry MESSAGE

 – Having a sense of purpose can help get through difficult times. Drug addiction is difficult to break and those suffering from PTSD really need professional assistance to manage and control their symptoms.