Nerve (2016) is a sci-fi techno thriller adventure flick directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schuman and written by Jessica Sharzer. It’s based on the young adult novel by Jeanne Ryan. It stars Emma Roberts, Dave Franco and Juliette Lewis in major roles.
It’s centered on an online “truth or dare” type game called “Nerve” where you choose to be a watcher or a player. The players take on all kinds of dares, each more dangerous than the last, and get rewarded with money. The watchers, well, pay to watch the players. The plot follows our protagonist Venus Delmonaco (Emma Roberts). Venus (or “Vee” for short) is a senior in high school who lives in Staten Island.
She wants to leave town and go to college, but since her older brother had just died tragically, she and her mom are mourning their loss so she doesn’t tell her. Vee finds out about this Nerve thing while scrolling through her emails on her laptop, but at first refuses to participate. Her best friend Sydney is a player on Nerve and has become very popular in the game. Sydney criticizes Vee for not being very adventurous, which drives Vee into becoming a player. Vee’s first dare is to kiss a complete stranger, which is when we’re introduced to our deuteragonist Ian (Dave Franco).
We learn that Ian is also a player. Ian serves as Vee’s love interest and the two form a dynamic. Vee and Ian take on all kinds of dangerous dares together. There’s also Ty, who’s basically the villain of the movie for the majority of it. Ty appears to take drastic measures to win the game and get himself out, even if it means sabotaging the main characters.
We learn that Ian and Ty have a past and have both been trapped in the game after a tragedy occurred in which a friend of theirs was killed in a dare. Since then, they’ve both been trying to get themselves out of the game. Sydney appears to be jealous of Vee throughout, but eventually drops out and helps the latter afterward. That’s about the gist of it without giving too much away.
I watched Nerve (2016) back when it came out on DVD, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I rewatched last weekend on Amazon Prime, and I’d say I enjoyed it overall. It’s pretty intriguing and entertaining and has some intense moments. I liked Vee and Ian’s dynamic. I liked the scene where Vee and Ian had to run out of the department store in their underwear. That was a fun scene. I think Emma Roberts and Dave Franco both did a pretty good job with their roles.
I do have a few minor nitpicks. There were parts where it tried to be funny but didn’t make me laugh or anything (not a comedy, obviously). I thought the part where Isn’t danced and sang at the diner was a little cheesy. I felt it got a bit too political in the climax, and I won’t tell you what happens in the end, but it made me go “huh”? I’d also like to comment about the tattoo scene. As Vee is getting her tattoo, there’s death metal music play and she makes a comment about the music saying, “I really don’t like that noise at all!” (direct quote), and as a metal head myself, I’m a tiny bit offended. Those are minor nitpicks though.
All in all, I think Nerve (2016) is pretty good as far as young adult techno thrillers go.
I give Nerve (2016) a solid 7/10.
So, have you seen Nerve (2016)? What did you think? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did you think it was okay? Let me know in the comments.
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As I post this, Nerve (2016) is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and MGM+.
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