In Nerve, Emma Roberts plays the role of Vee, a girl who is the picture of innocence. Vee has somehow made it to high school without doing a single brave thing in her life. She doesn't even have the courage to tell her mom that she wants to go to an art school across the country for college. Courage is not her strong suit and it shows in every mannerism that she displays. The fear she shows when she is asked to do something well beyond her comfort zone. The way her eyes dart to and fro when someone with more confidence is staring her down. This film works mostly in part because, if you can't relate to Vee personally, you root for her anyway because she is a severe underdog. Roberts' performance is impactful in the sense that she not only gives us a character to get behind, but she helps to push the character's growth as well. By the end of the film, Vee is not the same Vee that we knew in the beginning. Not even close.
This is helped largely in part by her forced relationship with Ian (Dave Franco or "The Other Franco" as I like to call him). Ian not only exudes confidence, he's also very chill, very go-with-the-flow. Separately, Ian and Vee are like night and day, but together they are an inseparable team. Vee needs to be pushed to do more while Ian needs someone to protect as he seems to hold little regard for his own life. Their combo works very well.
The film itself carries intrigue in the sense that you're watching something unbelievable that could someday be a reality (if it isn't already). In a society where the majority of our lives have become dominated by the internet and social media, Nerve, a game of Dare or Fail, could easily become the next big, dumb thing that sweeps the masses. Thinking about it in that sense raises the intensity of what you're seeing. The film is even shot in such a way that you forget at times that what you're seeing isn't a reality show.
As I mentioned earlier, Ian and Vee are a team. They are paired up together during a game called Nerve where the goal is to complete a series of dares during a 24-hour time period and make a lot of money in the process. While a few of the dares resulted in some pretty intense moments, there were a handful that were somewhat weak, resulting in false build-ups. One dare, for example, requires them merely to go into the city (New York). One of Vee's friends says something along the lines of, "Vee, no way, you can't go into the city! That's dangerous!" Meanwhile, I'm scratching my head trying to figure out what the big deal is.
Other portions of the movie made the story unbelievable at times. Winnings from dares were transferred into peoples' accounts at the speed of light and anyone that has ever tried to transfer any dollar amount out of Paypal knows how hard moving money can be. Finally, in one scene, Vee tries to report Nerve to the cops and the cop seems extremely disinterested even though she is clearly frazzled. These little touches are sacrificed for the sake of advancing the storyline and might be bothersome to some like myself.
Nerve is a pretty fun watch that was enjoyable though it could have pushed the envelope a bit more. I give it a 77.
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