Kevin Smith Reviews Cherry, Praises Tom Holland’s Performance

Though we’re still a few weeks out from the release of the Russo Brothers’ new film Cherry, their latest Tom Holland starring movie, filmmaker and film fan Kevin Smith is here to put on his conductor hat and send the hype train barreling down the tracks. Speaking about the movie on the latest episode of his FatMan Beyond podcast, Smith touted Holland’s acting in the Apple TV+ release as well as the ability of the Russos to create a story that wasn’t a large scale, Marvel Studios blockbuster. To summarize it in a word, Smith began his review of the movie by calling it: “Wonderful.”

“The Russo brothers, they’re the real deal man,” he added. “It’s not just like ‘Oh they know how to make Marvel movies!’ True f***ing filmmakers, and what a great argument for like ‘Two heads are better than one.’ Beautiful movie, quiet epic. The kid’s great, like I’ll watch him read the f***ing phone book or toast marshmallows, but he’s f***ing wonderful in this movie. He ain’t just Spider-Man cute and aw, schucks, he’s a f***ing wonderful performance. I loved the flick, I couldn’t believe that’s what it was, I had no idea that’s what the movie was going to be. It’s based on a book and basically it’s about opioid addiction, at the root of it all. Thankfully I’ve never dealt with it myself but having known people that have dealt with it, pretty f***ing close. Really insanely well made, so watch that.”

Smith couldn’t contain his enthusiasm though and added a couple more anecdotes: “F**k it’s good, like it’s really good. Those guys are great filmmakers. I don’t know what’s going on if it counts for this year or next year but like it could totally f***ing get awards and they could totally get a directing nomination. It’s beautifully made.”

For the record, the eligibility period for movies to be nominated in the 93rd Academy Award nominees is anything released from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2021, meaning that Cherry will debut in theaters two days ahead of the cut-off and put it in a place to potentially be nominated for Oscars this year (it’s missed the boat on The Golden Globes however). Smith is also a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, so his ballot will seemingly give Cherry plenty of love.

Cherry hits theaters on February 26th and will be available to stream on Apple TV+ on March 12th.