Nerve - Suspenseful story with boring characters

Being surprised at the movies is always an intriguing experience. To go into a movie and not expect much from its premise to then be shocked by how well it acts on that premise is a joy. Nerve has this level of surprise. Its premise leans heavily on a weak concept, but this concept provides for incredibly suspenseful moments of action. What the film lacks in enjoyable and nuanced characters and perfect plot it delivers in moments of true nail-biting suspense.

Vee (Emma Roberts), a reserved high school senior, is pushed by her friends to join a new alternate reality game called Nerve. In the game people who play are offered large amounts of money to participate in dares. These dares become increasingly difficult, bordering on illegal, as you continue in the game. If you bail you lose all the money you’ve gained. Players keep performing dares until finally a winner is declared. As the night goes on Vee is paired with Ian (Dave Franco) who helps her with dares but continues to urge her to continue participating in the games.

Nerve is plagued by poor character design. As charismatic and enjoyable the performances of Dave Franco, Emma Roberts, Emily Meade, and Colson Richards are, their characters are poorly designed. Not so much stereotypes, as they are all the same characters with attempts at personalities and backstory that just fall flat on execution. The film also fails to offer proper closure in its resolution, and the ending itself has one of the worst deus ex machina cases I’ve ever seen.

That being said, the movie has a breakneck pace. It moves with furious and enjoyable excitement. Every dare that our main protagonists is exciting and new, filled with suspense and a sense of true danger. The stakes never feel high enough where someone could die, but they always feel exciting and unpredictable at every turn. These moments of suspense and occasional horror is what makes the film such a fun watch.

While the characters and messy plot of Nerve stop it from being a perfect movie, there’s just enough drama that viewers of this sci-fi AR rollercoaster will have their arms up the whole way through.