Cherrybomb

Beneath an artful quiff, Rupert Grint gives a decent performance in this post-Potter career move: a Northern Irish drama in which he plays one of a pair of mates whose bond is tested by a new girl in town. All three characters (the other boy played by Robert Sheehan and the girl by Kimberley Nixon) are remarkably cool dressers, and the film, directed by Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn, depicts them as they would wish: in carefully framed and lingering shots redolent of trendy American indies. The film’s histrionic story would probably appeal to them, too — if, that is, they were simply witnessing it, rather than suffering its nasty consequences. More grounded viewers, however, will feel that the melodramatic overload lets the film down badly.