NERVE (2016) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

nerve (2016) movie

Genre               |   Action Thriller

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   96 minutes

Released         |   1 September 2016

cast

Emma Roberts ... Vee
Dave Franco ... Ian
Emily Meade ... Sydney
Miles Heizer ... Tommy
Juliette Lewis ... Nancy

director

Henry Joost & Ariel Schulman

writer

​Jessica Sharzer ... (screenplay by)
 
Jeanne Ryan ... (based on the novel by)

cinematographer

​Michael Simmonds

music

​Rob Simonsen

film editor

​Madeleine Gavin
Jeff McEvoy

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box office result

Worldwide             $​85,241,496   

Australia                 $​​​3,442,468

North America        $​​​​​38,583,626 ​

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the best dialogue

Nancy: [in nurses uniform, upset at what she sees on her cellphone] Somebody is putting money in my account!
Black patient in wheelchair: White people problems.

Nancy: You guys are the dumbest smart kids I've ever met!

Ty: It's okay its over we're finally free

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NERVE (2016) IMAGES

Images

Posters

Images

Posters

NERVE (2016) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Industrious high school senior, Vee Delmonico [Emma Roberts], has had it with living life on the sidelines. When pressured by friends to join the popular online game Nerve, Vee decides to sign up for just one dare in what seems like harmless fun. But as she finds herself caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition partnered with a mysterious stranger [Dave Franco], the game begins to take a sinister turn with increasingly dangerous acts, leading her into a high stakes finale that will determine her entire future.

NERVE (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 30 August 2016
​Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐⭐

NERVE is an uneven film, but features enough escapism to keep viewers mildly interested in how the film’s main characters find their way out of the mess in which they have become embroiled. Based upon the 2016 novel of the same name, Nerve was co-directed by PARANORMAL ACTIVITY alumni Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. The film is both a coming-of-age story and also a cautionary tale about the dangers of social media and the new opportunities it brings for old-fashioned peer group pressure to raise its ugly head. Joost and Schulman, working from a screenplay by AMERICAN HORROR STORY Producer Jessica Sharzer, keep the action moving fast enough for viewers not to have time to second-guess some of the questionable narrative logic the film chooses to use. The young, attractive cast is led admirably by Emma Roberts, but there is a sense that Nerve was a good idea that became mired in the challenge of stretching it to a feature film length.

NERVE is the story of Vee (Emma Roberts), a teenager who, at the beginning of the film, is an observer to events around her. Her skills as a photographer represent the metaphor for her teenage existence and it is her best friend Sydney (Emily Meade) who seems to “live life” and get all the attention. Vee’s circumstance changes dramatically when her would-be boyfriend Tommy (Miles Heizer) challenges her to take part in an online game called Nerve. Tommy explains that participants accept challenges from an anonymous online community in exchange for financial reward. Vee’s first challenge brings her into contact with Ian (Dave Franco), a guy she randomly kisses in a local bar who turns out to also be a fellow Nerve participant. After the successful completion of her first challenge Vee is reluctant to continue but, at Ian’s urging, she jumps on the back of his bike and heads into the heart of New York City for an evening she won’t forget any time soon.

The film’s strength is the central performance from Emma Roberts as Vee. She’s not going to win any awards for her work on this film, but she convince the viewer that she is determined as the story makes her out to be and Roberts displays a feisty enthusiasm that makes it very easy to watch her working. Dave Franco’s Ian is not as solid and his character is one of the main reasons Nerve feels very uneven at times. Franco seems to act each scene on its merits and, as a result, his character doesn’t seem to have any underlying motivation to help inform his actions. It is something of a surprise to learn late in the story that he is more than just another participant in the game. The most head-scratching performance is from musician Machine Gun Kelly who plays fellow Nerve participant Ty. Kelly’s character pulses in and out of the story and becomes a convenient plot device to unleash whenever it seems the film’s energy is dissipating.

NERVE features a number of daredevil set-pieces; most notably, a 60 mile per hour blind-fold motorcycle stunt through the heart of Manhattan. Unfortunately, anyone who has ever been to New York will realise how ludicrous it is to think, given the Big Apple’s twenty-four congestion, that performing such a feat is even possible, and that’s where Nerve’s story fails. While it may make for exciting viewing, Jessica Sharzer’s screenplay plays fast and loose with the viewer’s suspense of disbelief. Plausibility and logic become the casualty of a stretched plot and emphasis on action for the sake of action. Given Nerve’s real-world setting, the longer the film goes on, the less sense it seems to make in comparison to reality. Unlike the participants of its fictional game, the film itself fails to make it to the end a winner!

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