- Actors: Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer
- Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
- Format: Color, NTSC, Widescreen
- Language: English
- Region: Region A/1
- Number of discs: 2
- Rated: PG-13
- Studio: Lionsgate
- Release Date: October 25, 2016
- Run Time: 96 minutes
Nerve boasts an original idea with
relevant modern commentary on the digital age and an over-reliance on social
media for feelings of self worth, though it often feels like a creative concept
destroyed by poorly drawn characters and increasingly idiotic plot twists.
Individual traits only seem to exist in order for each character to shift the
narrative where it needs to be, altered at the drop of a hat without
consideration of consistency. The story manipulates everything in Nerve, including the audience. Rather
than intelligently applying its themes, directors Henry Joost and Ariel
Schulman merely cram them into a typical action movie formula.
Joost and
Schulman fell into a career as filmmakers with the surprise success of the documentary
Catfish, a story which should give
them unique insight into the warped world of social media. Nerve begins with typical high school teen drama, despite nearly
every actor being over 25-years-old. Emma Roberts may have the build and face
of a teenager awkwardly navigating through puberty, but I don’t know if I can
watch her play a high school student for yet another 5 years. Worse yet,
Roberts’ character of Vee Delmonico is consistently inconsistent throughout the
film. Beginning as a mild-mannered photographer—someone more likely to take a
picture of an event than to be involved in it—the movie then attempts to make
an action star out of Vee in a way that is never believable.
After being
embarrassed by her frenemy, Sydney (Emily Meade), Vee impulsively joins an
online game of dare that all of the cool kids are playing. Sydney is a ridiculous character, whose only
purpose is to move the plot along with inconsistent behavior. At first she
appears to be the villain in the film, but the only real enemy is the
mass-mentality of mindless internet drones. This commentary might have been
more pointed had the filmmakers not devolved the narrative into a stupid action
movie with a ridiculously illogical ending, which also tacks on a pointlessly
preachy message about social media that is cancelled out by the film’s
fascination with it.
The game only
really starts for Vee when she pairs up with another player of the game, Ian
(Dave Franco). Regardless of what it says about gender roles that Vee only
becomes relevant when paired up with a male partner to do much of the game’s
heavy lifting, how unbelievable it is that a grown adult (Franco is 31) would
be romantically linked with an under-age high school student, and the obvious
missing chemistry between these leads, the character of Ian is the only
realistic explanation for Vee’s sudden decision to become a daredevil. There
are moments within the film that we are teased with the possibility of Ian’s
untrustworthiness, but ultimately there are no bad guys in Nerve beyond the internet itself.
The online game
within the film gives visitors the option of paying to watch the game or being
paid to play it, and the Blu-ray release has two similar categories for the
special features. Advertised as having “Watcher” and “Player” viewing modes, Nerve simply uses these two categories
to split up the special features, which are otherwise fairly generic. The
actual viewing of the film is completely unaltered. Special features in the
“Watcher” mode include 15 character video entries, with additional footage for
two of the dares from the game. All of these individual extras are only a few
minutes each or less. The “Player” mode doesn’t seem that much different,
providing biographies for the main players. There are also two interactive
features in this category, including a quiz to determine whether you are a
player or a watcher and an interactive game of dare. Also included with the
Blu-ray release is a DVD and Digital HD copy of the film.
Entertainment Value:
7/10
Quality of
Filmmaking: 6/10
Historical
Significance: 5/10
Special Features: 6/10
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