Cherry Bomb

The very moment I saw the running white horse intro and the Maverick Entertainment logo, I though 'great, another of their pointless movies'. Yet, I still opted to give writer and director Felicia Rivers a proper and fair chance here with this 2024 movie, and thus I opted to watch it.

However, the storyline fell very short of entertaining me, so this was not a particularly good movie for me to sit through. There isn't really much of anything going on besides dialogue and banter back and forth between various characters, that each were equally forgettable and bland as the next. The pacing of the narrative was so absolutely slow paced and mundane that it was a test of wills to keep watching it and not wander off to Dreamland.

The dialogue in the movie was so very, very wobbly, and oftentimes rather questionable. It was most definitely not Shakespearian dialogue going on throughout the course of the 97 minutes that the movie ran for.

I was not familiar with a single actress or actor on the cast list. But then again, I don't really dabble much in movies such as this. The acting performances were a bit all over the place, because some put on proper performances, whereas others put on questionable and dubious performances.

The fight scene between Camille and Melissa was one of the most laughable and ridiculous fight scenes that I have ever seen put to film. I had to go back and watch it twice because it was hilarious. At least it provided a genuine and good laugh.

I have to say, though, that "Cherry Bomb" was actually the most watchable of movies from Maverick Entertainment that I have had the misfortune to sit down and watch.

"Cherry Bomb" was by no means a movie that catered to my particular preference in movies. Nor is it a movie that I will ever return to watch a second time, nor is it a movie that I will recommend you to sit down and virtually waste 97 minutes on. I managed to endure a mind-boggling 41 minutes of absolute boredom before I caved in and threw the towel in the ring. Trust me, this is not a movie that I will return to attempt finish watching.

My rating of writer and director Felicia Rivers's 2024 movie "Cherry Bomb" lands on a generous two out of ten stars.

There are some positives. It is an all black cast, and not a small one, so jobs were given. But the plot holes are too much to overcome. Cherry Bomb is sentenced to prison for two murders. The film is through a lot of flashbacks, showing how she got involved with the various people. And plenty of gossip among the characters. She goes through a lot of lawyers, since she is unable to show any proof that she didn't do it. She keeps referring to Bubbles, but she doesn't know who that person is, or that person's real name, and no one seems to know a Bubbles. And she expects the lawyers to quickly free her. What seems to be her last lawyer tells her straight out that no one wants to take her case, as she has no proof. The prison scenes are simply not believable. If one is going to construct prison cells out of aluminum painted wood, then don't do close ups where one can see the grain of the wood and other imperfections in the wood. Other prison scenes simply could not be what would be in a prison and I doubt prisoners, even in a woman's prison, would be wearing very long and colored nails. In any prison, long nails would be considered as possible weapons. I can accept that some films often do not have a very large budget, if even a budget at all. And a low budget does not always mean a poor film. But they usually do not draw the viewers attention to the low budget. In the flashback scenes, there is a lot of music, but in the prison scenes, it is a monotonous tone. It is not a satisfying film.

Camille (aka Cherry Bomb) finds her life on the rise after a photo shoot with a friend. While her success is on the rise, her relationships seem to backfire, which eventually leads to time in prison.

The holes are numerous - almost every scene has something that leaves you raising an eyebrow. For example, Cherry Bomb entered a photo shoot that involved an old acquaintance. Despite the fact they were right next to each other as the photographer snapped away, it wasn't until after the photo shoot ended that they suddenly recognize each other.

Sometimes a movie can be so bad that it keeps you watching - this was one of them. The main character Camille was easy on the eyes, so that certainly helped dull the endless painful scenes.

I'd suggest avoiding this one.

I have never left a review for a movie but I couldn't let this one slide. Usually I could find one positive remark to say about a movie but this had no redeeming qualities. Everything was bad about this flick from the direction, the acting, the sound, the lighting, the framing, the editing, the fake jail set, the soundtrack...I mean everything. Tubi needs to have some type of QA criteria before accepting movies onto their platform. It just proves they accept anything. Just because a movie is low budget does not mean it has to be low grade. If you want to watch a movie for comedic value then this it! Never watched a movie so bad it actually made me angry.