Themes: Opposites Attract, Miscarriage of Justice, Flight of the Innocent
Main Cast: Robin Tunney, Tim Blake Nelson, Brad Hunt, Liz Phair, Jason Priestley
Release Year: 2002
Country: US
Run Time: 99 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Finn Taylor's quirky comedy Cherish concerns Zoe (Robin Tunney), a woman unlucky in love. She is berated at work and always seems to strike out with the opposite sex. After being asked by an attractive co-worker (Jason Priestley) to dance at a party, Zoe is kidnapped by a stalker who has fallen in love with her. During a scuffle, they accidentally kill a police officer. The stalker disappears and Zoe is charged with the crime. Soon she is under house arrest. The technician in charge of her ankle bracelet (Tim Blake Nelson) is as socially awkward as she is. Soon they grow close and he gets her a nine-hour window in which the pair tries to find the stalker and clear her name. Rocker Liz Phair and Saturday Night Live alumnus Nora Dunn round out the cast of this film that was screened at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
Review
Finn Taylor's Cherish is an endearingly offbeat romantic comedy that loses some of its goofy charm when it becomes a more conventional thriller late in the film. Writer/director Taylor (Dream With the Fishes) gets strong performances from his talented cast, particularly Robin Tunney (The Craft) in the lead role, playing Zoe, a classic rock-obsessed social misfit whose life is actually improved when she's placed under house arrest. Tunney is alone onscreen for much of the film, and her charm and energy carry the movie. Tim Blake Nelson of Minority Report is also very good as Daly, the shy and uptight technician who tends to Zoe's ankle bracelet. The film has an enjoyably quirky unpredictability for most of its running time, as Zoe tries to figure out how far she can get from her apartment without alerting the police, gets to know Max (Ricardo Gil), the wheelchair-bound dwarf who lives downstairs, and calls in requests for syrupy old love songs to the local oldies station. The music (including "classics" from 10cc's "I'm Not in Love" to Human League's "(Keep Feeling) Fascination") provides an effective and oddly creepy counterpoint to the action onscreen. Taylor's film falters when he introduces an unconvincing backstory out of the blue in the film's climactic moments in order to fully explain Zoe's predicament. While it's mildly disappointing that Cherish doesn't sustain its low-key tone and unique personality throughout its running time, this lapse doesn't seriously detract from Taylor's impressive accomplishments. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide
Nora Dunn - Bell; Lindsay Crouse - Therapist; Ricardo Gil - Max; Kenny Kwong - Yung; Stephen Polk - Joyce; Kelvin Han Yee - Officer Yee; Matthew King - Young Man on Train; Tim Griffin - Officer Griffin; Phil LaMarr - Yoga Instructor; Bill Ferrell - Heavier Officer; Karena Davis - Woman in Bar; Scott Breitenstein - Offier Ruiz; Kathleen Stefano - Head Prison Guard; Alex Gonzalez - Kid #1; Kellan Patrick - Kid #2; Adam Del Rio - Jimmy; Nina Du Val - Wife; Daniel DeShara - Husband; Sumalee G. Montano - Officer Montano; Jeremy Toback - Record Store Owner; Veronica Brown - Woman in Apartment; Tim Wiggins - Motorist; Michael Vaughn Breitenstein - Officer 'Hand Bitten'; Banks McClintock - Engineer; Mary Saudargas - Woman; Sophia Sharp - New Waitress; Todd Stoneman - Hustler; Matte Finish - Woman Behind Bars; Beth Daly - Computer
Credit
Guy M. Harrington - Art Director, Joseph Middleton - Casting, A. Michael Miller - Co-producer, Joseph Middleton - Co-producer, Amy Brownson - Costume Designer, Curran G. Engel - First Assistant Director, Finn Taylor - Director, Rick LeCompte - Editor, Steven Siebert - Executive Producer, John Sideropoulos - Executive Producer, Jeff Boortz - Executive Producer, Mark de Gli Antoni - Composer (Music Score), Charles Raggio - Musical Direction/Supervision, Don Day - Production Designer, Barry Stone - Cinematographer, Mark Burton - Producer, Johnny Wow - Producer, Lisa Clark - Set Designer, David Nelson - Sound Editor, Finn Taylor - Screenwriter, Matt Rocker - Additional ADR Recording, Scott Griffin - First Assistant Editor, David Kovacs - Production Accountant, P.J. Schumacher - Production Accountant, Ellen Tiep - Production Accountant, Angela Chou - Negative Cutter, Wood Lam - Negative Cutter, Bundy Chanock - Set Medic/First Aid, Dave Luzius - Swing Gang, Matt Stankovich - Swing Gang, Nikzad Khansari - Art Department Intern, Matthew Scott - Art Department Intern, Todd K. Freeman - Carpenter, Chris Bechtel - Carpenter
Zoe Adler (Robin Tunney), is a shy, eccentric and misunderstood computer animator who has a love for 1970s and 80s pop music. While heading home after a few drinks one night, she is forced into her car by a stalker who steers her into a police officer, knocking him off his bicycle and killing him.
When Zoe is put under house arrest with a story no one believes and an electronic bracelet that keeps her homebound with an ever-increasing list of mandatory and repetitive tasks she must complete or risk going to jail, she must find a way to clear her name. With the help of Daly (Tim Blake Nelson), an officer responsible for checking her bracelet every week (who falls for her), a downstairs neighbor and neighborhood kids, Zoe finds her stalker and tries to clear her name.
