Rupert Grint takes another faltering step towards a post-wizarding world in this modest drama about drinking, drugging, shagging, shoplifting, joyriding Belfast teens.
Harry Potter’s top chum is clearly striving to stretch himself – including wrestling admirably with a Northern Ireland accent – but still appears shackled by the Hogwarts rulebook.
As Malachy, he inhales and joins underage loins with brainy minx Michelle (Kimberley Nixon), but, hampered by the dweeby, straight-Astudent confines of his role, his hellraising keeps to the mild side, leaving Robert Sheehan to set off Cherrybomb’s loudest bang as his bad-influence best mate.
Shame, as making Grint the troubled teen mutineer would have given this the kick it needs. In fact, a few flashy visual tricks aside, putting ‘bomb’ in their title is the only truly risqué thing about Lisa Barros D’Sa and Glenn Leyburn’s rookie outing.
But what else would you expect from a film set mostly around a ‘leisureplex’?
