Saturday, July 30, 2016

Nerve

I have a buddy who drinks more scotch and smokes more weed per day than any average human should consume in their entire life! I cannot tell you how many times he calls me and the very next day we have the exact same conversation that we had the night before. I know more about his recent discovery of Alison Brie’s C cup sized breasts than I know about the upcoming election! And while it is mildly entertaining at times it also gets pretty old when we constantly argue over whether or not George W. Bush will get reelected or not. Ok, so I made that last part up, his memory isn’t THAT bad, but it’s getting close.

After we had our latest argument over whether or not I’d do Ellen Page if no one would ever find out about it, I was plotting ways I could get revenge on him. I thought about finally breaking down and playing the new interactive game Pokémon Go just so I could repeatedly annoy him with tales of how I rescued Tepig from the waters of Lake Minnetonka but thankfully the next best thing came along in the form of Nerve.

Nerve is a timely take on teenagers and their dangerous and at times reckless desire to be famous and accepted through the way of social media and their ridiculous addiction to their cellphones. It puts its focus squarely on how being disconnected from real interactions and hiding behind the safety of a username can lead to some pretty dangerous consequences. Now I know that so far this sounds like a script that was written by your high school guidance counselor, and to a certain extent it is, but it’s presented in a manner that teens can certainly identify with. While the actors and actresses who play high school kids are actually in their mid-twenties, they at least look like teenagers and they actually do and say things that the teens of today do; like getting terrible tattoos of books they read only once or misquoting lyrics to hip hop artists they’ve never actually seen before (i.e. Wu Tang Clan’s C.R.E.A.M.).

In Nerve we follow the exciting night of the notoriously reserved Vee (Emma Roberts) as she finally decides to break out of her shell and plays the online truth or dare game where you’re either a player or a watcher. Players have to complete a dare to earn money, while watchers have to pay just watch and come up with the dares for the players to do. And just like in the game Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the stakes begin to rise as the payout rises. The game starts out simple enough but once Vee meets the attractive yet mysterious (yes it’s as lame as it sounds) Ian (Dave Franco), she is immediately taken out of her comfort zone and starts doing things that she never thought she’d do; like running out of an upscale department store half naked or driving down the street on a motorcycle while blindfolded. That was actually one of the film’s cooler moments.

And as her popularity grows, tension also begins to grow between her and her best friend who is getting jealous over her newfound popularity, as well as her real friends who are concerned about her overall safety. Will she stop before things get too heavy or will she end up like the kid in Seattle who supposedly died from playing this game? Is this Ian guy trustworthy or does he have a hidden agenda?

I say this film is timely because kids really do think they’re invincible but now that they can have an audience to witness and approve of their shenanigans, who knows what kind of trouble they can get themselves into. Interactive games and maps are clearly the future of gaming and while it is cool and exciting, we’ve already seen some of the dangers that can come of it (see the idiots who are being mugged while playing Pokémon Go). Nerve for the most part is an entertaining thrill ride that thankfully doesn’t drift too far off into its desire to cater to teens. I mean there’s only one scene where Franco is dancing around a restaurant while singing a song that no real teen would ever actually know the words to. The directors instead chose to focus on the crazy dares that come up in the game and while doing so also provide some sleek and spectacular shots of both the city (New York) and the action that’s taking place in it.

It isn’t until the end that the story starts to fall under its hard to contain premise. I mean while I do agree that kids don’t always do the smartest things, they even allow common sense to kick in every now and then. This film just takes some situations a little too far. But hey, when you’re dealing with a Young Adult movie, you really should just be happy with the fact there wasn’t a cheesy love triangle and/or a ton of backpacks being thrown around unnecessarily. Overall I enjoyed Nerve and suggest you check it on Netflix. I give a rating of barely FRESH!

Wait a second, I just remembered that all of the so-called hackers in this movie were these young beautiful people who were cool and having fun in a warehouse when in reality we all know that hackers in high school are these pasty nerds who hang out in their parents’ basements while taking turns masturbating to Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad. And it’s because of this that I have to drop the rating down the just barely WEAK!

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