2) CHERRYBOMB

Directors: Lisa Barros D'Sa & Glenn Leyburn
Stars: Rupert Grint, Robert Sheehan, Kimberley Nixon, James Nesbitt
Year: 2009
Rating: UR

Set in Belfast, in northern Ireland, Cherrybomb opens with a bruised and battered teenager named Malachy (Rupert Grint, of Harry Potter fame) being questioned by authorities along with his friend Luke (Robert Sheehan). Separately and in closeup, each boy gives a brief but strong indication that something is horribly, horribly wrong ... before the film flashes back to four days prior, and the start of what led the guys to where they are now.

Malachy works at the front desk of a huge workout/recreational facility owned and run by his aggressive and over-sexed boss Dave Crilly (James Nesbitt), who happens to be carrying on a sexual tryst with one of Malachy's fifteen-year-old co-workers named Donna. Malachy is a good student and good guy, well-groomed and presentable, who comes from a middle-class family very secure in his future because he's always been a smart, well-behaved boy they can rely on.

In fact, the only problem that Malachy's family - or even his boss Dave, for that matter - has with Malachy is his best friend Luke. Luke, the polar opposite of Malachy, smokes and drinks and seemingly has no future, living with his alcoholic father in a bad part of town, where both are forced to sell drugs out of their home by Luke's more "successful" older brother Chris. Both Dave and Malachy's family barely tolerate Luke's presence, but have no choice because Luke and Malachy have been best friends all their lives, and nothing is going to break that bond.

That is, until Dave's beautiful blond teenage daughter Michelle (Kimberley Nixon) arrives in Belfast, having lived with her mother in London for some time. The emotionally-distant Kimberley, shuffled back and forth from parent to parent, finds the instant attraction she generates in both Malachy (who is smitten with her) and Luke (who, seemingly emotionally distant himself, only wants to shag her) utterly intriguing, and soon plays the two best friends off each other. Seemingly attracted by Luke's bad boy side, as the two head out to party Malachy feels the need to keep up - to prove he can be bad-ass, as well - and the trio's weekend together includes starting fights, doing drugs, and stealing cars, as the boys' antics grow increasingly more dangerous in their efforts to impress ... the viewer always keeping that opening scene, of Luke and Malachy being grilled by the authorities, in mind.

Cherrybomb is a strong, well-acted film about teen angst that's very simple on plot but effective nonetheless (and with an ending that's a genuine surprise, to say the least). Watching the film, I sort of kept thinking of it as a modern-day Less Than Zero of sorts, even though the emphasis here isn't entirely on drugs; maybe the trio of two guys and a girl as the central characters made that comparison inevitable. I was very curious to see how much Rupert Grint could get away from his Harry Potter/Ron Weasley persona with this film, and was really happy to see him give a terrific, very heartfelt and sympathetic performance as Malachy; Grint truly is talented, and can play more than the comedic doofus for sure! Kimberley Nixon, as the center of the triangle, gives a good performance as the conflicted Michelle. But as fine a performance as Grint gives here, really adding to the film, the real star of Cherrybomb, to me, was Robert Sheehan. As Luke, Sheehan's character is more than just a bad boy who smokes and drinks and picks fights; Sheehan gives Luke an emotional complexity that resonates to the core of the character, making you feel such sympathy for him, hoping like hell he can escape the fate that seems laid out for him in life. It's a brilliant performance, subtle and totally convincing, and between this and his turn as Nathan on the UK series "Misfits" alone, Sheehan is shaping up to be one of the best actors of his generation.

While Cherrybomb doesn't cover a whole lot of new ground, the performances of its three young leads (as well as James Nesbitt as Dave, who is great here) and the story that unfolds in the end make it well worth watching. Grint definitely deserves a lengthy career beyond Ron Weasley, and Sheehan is headed for true stardom if he chooses his roles wisely; both, here, turn what could have been a so-so film into something more. ***1/2 - Reel Cool-Reel Awesome