Title: Nerve
Starring: Emma Roberts, James Franco, Emily Meade
Directed By: Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost
Written By: Jessica Sharzer
Released: 5th December 2016
Vee Delmonico (Emma Roberts) is always watching her more popular friends, but rarely participating. All her friends are playing an online game called Nerve. The game challenges players to accept unusual dares. And the dares get increasingly scary and dangerous.
As the dares go from fun or thrilling to dangerous stunts and the stakes go up, Vee finds herself in a high-stakes finale that could be literally life or death. The game is played by some, watched by others. Dares are increasingly risky and pay out to the players in real money. Where the money comes from is unknown but we can guess that it comes from rich kids with nothing better to spend their trust funds on than watching others. Dares are offered to participants via their smart phones and they must choose whether to complete the dare or not for the offered financial reward. They must record the entire dare on their own smart phone.
Vee meets Ian (Dave Franco) who is also playing the game, unbeknownst to Vee, and he uses her to increase his popularity. But it’s not long until the pair have thousands of followers and are in the top ten watched people playing the game. This causes arguments with Vee’s best friend Sydney (Emily Meade) who has been a star of the game for some time. She’s just been knocked off the top spot and she’s not happy. Will Vee and Sydney remain friends? Will Ian be dangerous? Will any of them ever use social media again? It’s an examination into the darker side of the internet.
Director Ariel Schulman, who was the star of Catfish directs with his directing partner Henry Joost with style and flair. The film moves along at a brisk pace and doesn’t not outstay its welcome. It’s a fun ride that will thrill viewers whilst also asking questions about how we all live our lives.
This adrenaline-fueled competition is a commentary on social networking taken to the next level. It examines how social networking has invaded all areas of our lives and how we have become slaves to it. Roberts and Franco are likable leads and they impress. Both are rising stars and are very worthy of leading their own film. Their chemistry together is good and they are enjoyable stars to watch. This is similar to the Charlie Brooker TV anthology series Black Mirror but on the big screen with a big budget. The fact that the film made $80M from a budget of $20M suggested it was well received.
