Hey, in case you hadn’t heard, video games that involve running around outside while other (non-playing) people watch you bump into each other like idiots are all the rage right now, which makes the release of the new film Nerve all the more timely. Although the game in this movie is far more dangerous, and it’s run by hackers who tap into all of your online details (hidden and otherwise) and devise a series of dares for you to complete for money. As the game progresses, the dares get riskier and more terrifying, but the dollar amounts get bigger, until only one person is left with all the money.
It should come as no surprise that NERVE comes courtesy of Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the same filmmakers who gave is the documentary (and subsequent TV series) CATFISH, which shed light on the phenomenon of starting relationships with others online by pretending to be somebody else. The game Nerve is a bit more sophisticated, and the way it unfolds in the course of the movie feels a bit like a version of the internet (and phone technology) that doesn’t quite exist, but the game’s concept and the creators’ ability to hack into private information to create the scariest dares—involving fear of heights, fear of public speaking/performances, riding a motorcycle down a Manhattan street blindfolded—seems well within the realm of plausibility.
Emma Roberts plays a high school student Vee, a fairly shy girl whose best friend, Sydney (Emily Meade, of MONEY MONSTER and YOUNG ADULT), is far more outgoing and always pushing her to be bold. When Sydney embarrasses Vee by asking out a guy Vee likes on her behalf and gets rejected, Vee’s resolve to be braver seems to take form. Soon after that incident, a new round the game Nerve is announced on everyone’s phones and computers, asking people if they want to be players or watchers (you have to pay for the privilege of watching), and before long, both Vee and Sydney are playing and competing for the most number of viewers. What should come as no surprise is that the way you watch someone play is through the mobile devices of those around the players, all of whom have their cameras at the ready to live stream the dares being carried out.
Early in her run, Vee is dared to kiss a stranger in a restaurant, and it just so happens the handsomest one there is Ian (Dave Franco, looking six-months-in-the-gym pumped). They both decide that their number of viewers will increase faster if they pair up, which they do, much to Sydney’s annoyance. Also attempting to throw a wet blanket on the proceedings is Vee’s best male friend Tommy (Miles Heizer of “Parenthood”), who clearly has a crush on Vee and thinks she doesn’t need to go through with this game be be special. He’s kind of a douchey character who adds nothing to this movie other than an excuse to slow things down.
One of the more fascinating aspects of the game is that some of the dares involve setting up other people playing the game, and it also turns out that some of the anonymous legion of watchers are steering the action at times, which seems even more far fetched considering the speed at which the action unfolds. Based on a novel by Jeanne Ryan (adapted by Jessica Sharzer), NERVE works best when it feel authentic and within the realm of the possible. By the time we get to the big finale dare involving the film’s villain-like character Ty (Colson Baker, better known as rapper Machine Gun Kelly), the film has gone way off the reality rails and it lost me to a degree.
When the movie focuses on Roberts and Franco, things just seem to flow better, even when the plot gets nonsensical. The two have such enormous, sparkling-white smiles that the big screen almost can’t contain both their mouths. But they have such convincing chemistry that we begin to root for them to succeed as a pair of lost souls who have found something in each other, even if neither wins the game.
Subplots about other competitors, Sydney’s jealousy of Vee sudden fame, and Ian’s life before the game eat up way too much screen time when all we really want is these two winning personalities to play Nerve. The film is slick, graphics heavy, and edited in such a way that you rarely have a moment to breathe. If it’s possible for a film to be enjoyable without being especially good (and I believe there are rare instances where it can happen), then that’s what NERVE is to a tee.
