Movie Review: Nerve
It’s crazy to think how far technology has come within the past few years. Things that once seemed like they could only exist in a world where Captain Kirk resided have now become a reality and it’s quite a testament to just how brilliant the human race can be when they apply themselves. Deciding to use this to their advantage, “Nerve” takes the best of what modern technology has to offer and puts together a surprisingly good romantic thriller that’s a lot better than it should have been.
18 year old Venus (Emma Roberts, who i believe should be casted in EVERYTHING!), is a high school senior getting ready to graduate and is tired of her boring life. Her best friend is head cheerleader, she lives with her overprotective mother (a never aging Juliet Lewis), and the cute guy at school has no idea who she is. Tired of being a wallflower, she decides to join the latest internet craze called Nerve, which is a website where people from all over can dare you to do whatever they want. If you accept and complete the challenge then you win money but if you fail, you lose everything you’ve won. During her first dare, Venus meets a handsome stranger named Ian (the unfairly good looking Dave Franco) and the two are dared to team up and spend the evening completing challenges together. What starts out as a too good to be true romantic night slowly starts to turn into a dangerous game in which Venus and Ian are soon playing for not just money, but also their lives.
I remember seeing the trailer for this movie and thinking to myself that despite how interesting it looked, it was more than likely going to end up being another terrible cash grab from the studio that made it. The fact that it’s PG-13 wasn’t helping it either. However, within ten minutes from the starting point, I found myself extremely interested in what was going on and enjoying myself far more than perhaps I should have been in a movie like this.
One of the things I liked most about this movie was the pacing of the film and also the tone it set. When the movie starts, you feeling like you’re getting ready to watch a romantic comedy about the nerd who falls in love with the jock and for a while, that’s exactly the kind of movie you’re watching. The entire first half of the movie consists of numerous scenes where Venus and Ian are forced to perform cute little dares that only bring them closer together. There’s even a moment where they are required to strip down in their clothing and their eyes linger on one another just a little too long to be considered normal. Over the course of time, it’s obvious these two characters are falling for one another and there are a little too many moments where Ian is just too charming to ever be considered a real person but that’s okay, because he’s falling in love with Venus and we’re falling in love with them! Yeah, teen love! Whoo!
Halfway through though things start to take a darker turn and the movie morphs into a thriller where Venus and Ian are fighting to survive the night. It’s quite the twist and if you didn’t see the trailers, you never would’ve seen it coming. This had such potential to ruin the entire movie but the transition feels really smooth and natural and doesn’t ruin the movie in any way. In fact, I’d say it made it a lot better and really saved the movie. I think it could have benefited from maybe changing the tone a little sooner than it did but that’s none of my business.
If there was one thing I’d have to say didn’t quite work for this movie, it would be an unnecessary subplot involving Venus’s best friend Sydney (Emile Meade). We meet her early on and her first few scenes are perfectly fine however, once things start to pick up between Venus and Ian, the movie constantly cuts back and forth between them and Sydney, who is growing jealous of Venus’s newfound fame. She begins to perform a number of extreme dares to gain more attention and it didn’t feel like a natural storyline at all and seemed as if it was only being used to make the movie longer. Venus has another friend, a boy named Tommy (“Parenthood’s” Mike Heizer), who was used much more efficiently. He was in the movie a good amount of time but wasn’t hogging the screen the way it felt like Sydney was. I feel like she would have been used better had she just been watching from home or was hanging around with Tommy and got involved more with the story when he did. Her character isn’t bad and the actress does just fine with the part. I just wish she would have been utilized better is all I’m trying to say.
The strongest thing about this entire movie are its two leads, Roberts and Franco. These two had amazing chemistry on screen together and they really carry the entire film on their shoulders. I honestly think the only reason this movie worked the way it did is because of how well they worked together. Both actors are extremely talented — perhaps too talented for a film such as this — and because they brought their A-game when filming, it looks like the rest of the cast and crew did as well. The first half, as cheesy as it can be, never feels — like it’s “too much” because they’re so cute together that we don’t really mind. These are two people we really want to see make out with each other and they carry a good “will they or won’t they” vibe throughout the movie, which is fun to watch. For two people who seem to have only gotten a break in Hollywood because they’re related to two highly famous people, it’s nice to see these two really starting to make a name for themselves and building their careers off their talent and not just who they grew up with.
At times, “Nerve” is a little too unbelievable and the use of technology is a little too unrealistic to be considered real. If this was happening in real life, there is no way it could ever reach the same kind of scale that it does in the movie but that’s okay, because a movie isn’t meant to be a realistic portrayal of life. The cinematography is nice to look at and the soundtrack is filled with a number of fun indie pop songs that really capture the spirit of the film and draw you into the world that is “Nerve.”
The bottom line, in a summer filled with action packed sequels being released week after week, “Nerve” is a quiet but exciting film with strong lead actors that’s a lot of fun to watch and a great way to kill an hour and half of your life this summer season.
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