It's a daring night with two attractive young adults and a naughty Internet.
Nerve
Grade: B-
Director: Henry Joost (Paranormal Activity 3), Ariel Schulman (Paranormal Activity 3)
Screenplay: Jessica Sharzer (Speak) from Jeanne Ryan novel
Cast: Emma Roberts (Palo Alto), Dave Franco (Now You See Me)
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1hr 36min
by John DeSando
If you have the nerve to see Nerve, do not apply systems of cultural and cinematic logic to a thriller that mostly is concerned with the number of hits on the titular Internet game. However if you like seeing how popular you can get on Instagram and Snapchat and the dollars to be made from hits, then this is the film for you.
If you came to this teen crime thriller cum fantasy gaming expecting a literate take on the evils of the Smart Phone, you will be disappointed. Not that the possibilities for shrewd commentary on the dangers of covert cyber surveillance are not manifold; it’s just that the heroine, Venus (Emma Roberts), is too clueless about the ramifications of playing Truth or Dare on a phone with millions of watchers zeroing in on her as Player.
The thriller first becomes absurd when Ian (Dave Franco) drives his motorcycle blindfolded with Venus guiding him. More fantastical incidents/dares come forth with the last two being doozies of improbability. The dares culminate in a crescendo of righteousness as the world has a moment of seeming sanity in a film that has been anything but.
Young adult fiction has lasting possibilities (I thought Twilight would never end), but Nerve is not one of those with a senior future. It’s all about now in neon and instant gratification.
The best that can be said is it has moments of authentic terror (hanging from a construction crane made me nervous, no less walking a ladder between buildings ), yet it squanders the possibilities of meaningful characterizations and themes in favor of outlandish dares, none of which should pass the first security test for cybercrime.
The dares, however, are mostly scary if not realistic. Nerve should appeal to teens who like both modes.
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
