User reviews

Vee Delmonico (Emma Roberts) is excited to be accepted to a college in California. She is concerned about leaving her mother (Juliette Lewis) behind in Staten Island after a family tragedy. Her best friend Sydney (Emily Meade) shows her an underground internet game called Nerve. Participants are divided between players and watchers. Players do dares for money and watchers pay to watch the players on their 24 hour adventures. After being embarrassed by Sydney, Vee decides to play. Her first dare is to kiss a stranger and she picks Ian (Dave Franco). They are then dared to partner up on an exciting journey into the city.

The premise, the style, and the actors make a fun, thrilling action adventure in the city. There are little problems that can be overlooked for the most part. The conclusion is key and it does certain things to wrap it all up too neatly. It takes the fun dark web idea and slaps on a Hollywood ending. Overall, it was fun while it lasted.

This movie comes at the perfect time with the craze of Pokemon Go; a time when you literally see millions of people obsessed with an app - where you can find videos of hordes of people in NYC all running after a particular Pokemon.

This is essentially the premise of the movie: a new app (game) comes out that takes teens in a particular city by storm, except the consequences can be much graver.

As to not give anything away, I try to be brief:

The acting was great; the pacing was great, the color pallet and tone of the movie were all top notch.

That being said, the plot - as it developed - felt "obvious", I wasn't surprised by anything and I wasn't ever emotionally "moved." The movie knows what it is, and it does it pretty well - it's a teen thriller.

What the movie explores is far more important: the way people interact with each other when they are hidden behind a wall of anonymity. The movie has a good message.

The BOTTOM LINE: I rate movies on whether it is worth spending the $$$ to see at a theater, in my opinion this one is worth seeing at a matinée showing ($5), but probably not dolling out $12 - $15. I hope that helps.

Good idea that failed in execution. If you saw the trailer and read the reviews you might think that there's some depth hiding in the actual movie, but unfortunately, you'll be wrong to think so. The actors are the only bright spot. You'll see some well known and rising star faces who's acting was on point. The movie tries to win you with likable characters, scenes that show familiar problems to most internet users (e.g.Skype call glitching) and with a cute little morale story at the end but fails as it provides no depth to be discovered. Some scenes are super cringe worthy and left me feeling uncomfortable about my movie picking skills.

It's just one of those films you watch and forget about in a day, doesn't leave you questioning some character's decisions or the way it ended which left both me and my girlfriend disappointed. Overall 5/10.

I'm the guy who can appreciate Ben Affleck's Daredevil as mindless entertainment...so with that being said I'm not too hard to impress. I liked this movie's concept...it's fun and engaging. The actors did a good job with it for what it was. It's not an Oscar worthy movie by any means, but if you're bored and you're looking for something to mindlessly entertain you for a few hours this will do the trick. A little far fetched at times with regards to the antagonist(s)...but it's a good source of mindless entertainment. I've read people say it tries to actually get into serious themes...if that's the case I missed the memo cause I didn't really see any serious themes other than the availability of information over the internet...

I'd sort of go the other way with this and say it doesn't really take itself too seriously...which I think is a good thing. I do feel like the ending was a little meh and a little bit of a letdown...but I can't think of a better way to end it off the top of my head so I really shouldn't complain. This was an OK movie with a really good premise for nerds like me.

20 mins into this, I loved it - I was all in for the ride, then, you know, that la dee da, bulls*** ending happened. I really wish they'd gone dark with that ending. Actually, every moment after Vee snitches to that cop should be changed, I feel like up until that point it was so good. I was still entertained, but the magical hacker network taking down everything... in record time, uuugh, it was so, typical. Also, Vee's brother, he played Nerve, right? That's how he died?? lol, I can't've been the only one that thought that - why mention him at all, why even have a brother, if he's not central to the story or some breakthrough?? Him being "the fun was" can't've been it, can it?

This movie was good, almost great. Strong 6/10.

If you watched Devour back in 2005 then here's the remake of it. Also, pretty much like the very well known Blue Whale game. Actors are fine but the idea is way too stretched and unreasonable. Could've been better.

It's not a terrible film it may be predictable and a little out there, but for what it is, it being a movie for young drama fantasy loving teens it's pretty good. If your the previously mentioned targeted audience there's a good chance you'll like the movie. 7/10.

With great internet power comes great irresponsibility. This is the premise behind "Nerve", a film whose producers must have wet themselves with excitement that the Pokemon Go craze aligned so nicely with the release of their film. I was delighted that at last this summer there is a film with a modicum of originality I can enthuse about.

'Vee', short for Venus (Emma Roberts, niece of Julia Roberts) is an NYC teen living in the shadow of a family tragedy and the claustrophobic presence of her over-protective mother (Juliette Lewis, "Cape Fear"). Always timidly in the shadow of her best friend – the extrovert Sydney (Emily Meade) – Vee pooh-poohs Sydney's compulsion with the new viral internet game 'Nerve': a social media 'Truth or Dare' ("but without the truth") challenge game where you can either be a "Player" or a "Watcher". In real time, Watchers set Players with challenges they have to complete for ever-escalating financial rewards… but "Bail" or "Fail" and you lose all. And "snitches get stitches".

With their friendship at breaking point, Vee is provoked into playing the game by Sydney and teams with fellow gamer Ian (Dave Franco, younger brother of James Franco) – someone with a history that could bring Vee into great danger. However, Vee's geeky wannabe boyfriend Tommy (Miles Heizer) is on the case….

What is so impressive about this film is that the screenplay by Jessica Sharzer (based on a novel by Jeanne Ryan) is genuinely original and is delivered with style and good humor. Sure, you can draw parallels for any film with many other sources: in here there are traces of Hunger Games/Allegiance; the "Simon Says" portion of Die Hard 3; perhaps a soupçon of "Gladiator" and Schwartznegger's "Running Man" in the mix. But this is a novel approach to a teen flick, bang on the topical money in bringing in the frenetically viral nature of social media and aspects of the 'dark web', cyber security and open source programming.

The film manages to generate significant credibility about the impact that a game like this would have among a teen audience. And there is a telling message in the finale: that it is easy to be a troll without responsibility hiding behind an internet ident, but when the masks come off and the message back becomes personal then your responsibilities as an individual human can come home to roost.

The film is delivered with style and verve as well, with innovative graphics (a great title and end title design) and an 'augmented reality' overlay of the action showing Players and Watchers across the city. Many of the challenges are executed really well, with a few seat-clenchingly tense moments, particularly if you have a poor head for heights.

But with all this potential it unfortunately fails to be a 10* classic, smelling at times of 'B' movie. Which is a great shame. Emma Roberts is fine at what she does, but at times I longed for the dramatic depth of a Shailene Woodley or Chloe Grace Moretz, with the scenes with the under-used but excellent Juliette Lewis rather highlighting this differential.

The otherwise excellent script is – for me – let down by a scene of male-on-female violence which I found both distasteful and unnecessary. And a coding 'geeks shall inherit the earth' moment towards the end is a little too glib for my liking.

But overall the directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman ("Paranormal Activity 3" and "4") have done a fine job with a $20M budget.

Regular readers of my blog (bob-the-movie-man.com) may recall my use of the "BvS quotient" – the number of films that could be made from the budget of "Batman vs Superman": this one has a BvS quotient of 8% meaning you could make over 12 of these instead of the superhero dud. Yes please! Although if they had doubled the budget and rounded off some of the sharp corners, this could have been a true classic. It's still recommended for a memorable movie experience though, and probably makes it into my draft movies of the year list so far.

(For the graphical version of this review and to comment, please visit bob-the-movie-man.com. Thanks).

If you have the nerve to see Nerve, do not apply systems of cultural and cinematic logic to a thriller that mostly is concerned with the number of hits on the titular Internet game. However if you like seeing how popular you can get on Instagram and Snapchat and the dollars to be made from hits, then this is the film for you.

If you came to this teen crime thriller cum fantasy gaming expecting a literate take on the evils of the Smart Phone, you will be disappointed. Not that the possibilities for shrewd commentary on the dangers of covert cyber surveillance are not manifold; it's just that the heroine, Venus (Emma Roberts), is too clueless about the ramifications of playing Truth or Dare on a phone with millions of watchers zeroing in on you as Player.

The thriller first becomes absurd when Ian (Dave Franco) drives his motorcycle blindfolded with Venus guiding him. More fantastical incidents/dares come forth with the last two being doozies of improbability. The dares culminate in a crescendo of righteousness as the world has a moment of seeming sanity in a film that has been anything but.

Young adult fiction has lasting possibilities (I thought Twilight would never end), but Nerve is not one of those with a senior future. It's all about now in neon and instant gratification.

The best that can be said is it has moments of authentic terror (hanging from a construction crane made me nervous, no less walking a ladder between buildings ), yet it squanders the possibilities of meaningful characterizations and themes in favor of outlandish dares, none of which should pass the first security test for cybercrime. The dares, however, are mostly scary if not realistic. Nerve should appeal to teens who like both modes.

The movie Nerve is about a live-streaming game that's like truth or dare, but with only dares and cash prizes. It's a popular underground game in the U. S. that law enforcement can't seem to catch. Nerve is a movie that reflects society's love for the Internet and online games. It's about Emma Roberts' character, Vee, who plays the game after a breakup. She partners with Dave Franco's Ian and becomes obsessed with the game. As she completes more dares, her popularity among the "watchers" grows, and the dares become more dangerous.

Nerve is a movie that deals with real-world issues such as technological threats, instant-celebrity culture, surveillance, and voyeurism. It is set in neon-lit New York City and shows the darker side of the game. Vee and Ian explore the hidden realms of the cyber world, and the thrills build up to a climax that is comparable to The Hunger Games. The resolution is satisfying, although it feels a bit rushed.

If you consider the concept only, it could have been a decent film, if it were more along the lines of the manga, Dead Tube, it could have further potential. With the first act, it seemed to be okay, if you ignore the poor aspects the overall set up is good, when the moral matters are brought up the message is overly played, really pushing a message, whereas if you took the concept to Dead Tube, you could have a successful message if not so on the nose, a message played through the events and what is seen rather than the ending that is given. Much of the overall film feels as though something exciting is about to happen but is unfortunately lost to draw in viewers to the the message the film and studio try to push. It is unfortunate this is a missed opportunity, the cast were also an issue in that they were selected for attracting a younger audience. If we had unknown actors, with a darker plot we could be left with something that makes the viewer consider what they have witnessed compared to the message that is painfully spelled out.

I really don't understand all the horrible reviews for this movie. Its goal is obviously to be a mindless entertaining thrill ride, and to me it is succeeding. The direction fits the energetic nature of the plot, the actors are doing a great job (excluding Machine Gun Kelly who is clearly not an actor), and the writing may not be exceptional but it does the job. For sure there are some plot holes and overly cheesy elements but it usually comes with the territory for that kind of movie and this is one of the milder offenders. Personal plus: the whole soundtrack is fantastic and right up my alley!

A very terrifying idea that isn't so far from reality. Nerve hits home to how people like to hide behind their anonymity online while, for example, giving hateful comments. While this concept seemed pretty dark in the trailer, it really is a young adult/teen film.

The acting cast did well with their characters, and their emotions were clearly expressed. As the protagonist, Roberts did well in displaying her character's conflicting and transitioning state of mind as the story progressed. Franco does well as the male lead, but I felt that his character was a little more superficial than Roberts'. While background information on his character is provided, it feels like something is lacking.

As well, I was pleasantly surprised to see both Kimiko Glenn, and Samira Wiley in the film. Both of them are more popularly known for their characters in Orange is the New Black, and it was nice to see them in roles outside of that. While I feel that Wiley wasn't in a completely different persona, Glenn certainly was. They both did great nonetheless.

In terms of the soundtrack, I was very into the music played. I feel like most of them belong to the Indie genre, and I have, for the past half year or so, gotten into Indie music. I especially liked it when 'Electric Love' by Børns came on. I'm hooked on that song.

Furthermore, the crew did well in the visual effects and editing of the movie. Although I did not care for the fast cuts whenever the game, 'Nerve' is introduced, the rest of the film is edited well. Also, there are quite a few montages, and they give the audience a sense danger as the dares get more and more ridiculous. The montages, along with the dark color palette, added to and helped maintain, the thrilling tone of the movie.

Overall, a pretty thrilling young adult movie, with great acting, editing, and an appreciative soundtrack.

It's a game of truth or dare, minus the truth. You have a choice to be either a watcher or a player. Over the brief period of twenty- four hours, a phone app puts teens everywhere in danger through dares that are played for cash payments. In the meantime, a fan base sends in that money to watch certain players take on requested dares, specific to information picked up from their social media profiles. It is a nationwide phenomenon that is the subject of Nerve, based on the Jeanne Ryan novel, a timely piece of summer entertainment that gives teenagers what they want simultaneously with what they need.

Thank goodness this type of mobile game doesn't exist, but thank even greater goodness that directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman (Catfish, Paranormal Activity 3 and 4) made it feel as close to real as we could probably grasp it. The camera takes on a DSLR feel with its Steadicam effects and shifting in and out of focus, all made the more heart-pounding to watch with the intense, stylistic colors that make every image pop. The Rob Simonsen score compels with a pulsing synthesizer, adding to the imprisoning effect of the city skyline illuminated at night by the usernames of the game players. But the directing team's most creative narrative technique is the unsettling effect of putting us behind the point of view of the phone screens, as if we're the watchers communicating with the players.

Joost and Schulman similarly draw us in at the start of the movie with a wonderfully stylistic opening hook, where a teenage girl's PC fills up the entire screen as if we were the ones running the show. The teenage girl of this story is Venus Delmonico (or Vee for short), played by Emma Roberts. She always has more social media tabs open than she can keep track of, which matches her cluttered mind that is set on leaving her mother's home for college. The problem? She doesn't have money to afford the dorms.

But Vee does not consider herself a risk taker—she can't even ask a boy out on a date without her best friend volunteering to do it for her. Here is where the game "Nerve" steps into her life, offering a possibility to win hundreds upon thousands of dollars for each dare she achieves.

Her first dare: kiss a stranger. Her second dare: take him into the city. Her third dare: try on a sparkly jade dress that costs four- grand. You can figure out the pattern from here.

As the night goes on, the money is deposited into her unsuspecting mother's checking account, a romance sparks between her and the stranger she meets from the dare, and she becomes one of the top 10 worldwide players, helping her to at last feel free and respected through her rebellion. It's worth respecting the challenge Emma Roberts and her male co-lead, Dave Franco, went through to complete these dares. They work rather well together, better than most teen couples on screen, although I have to wonder, was adding a predictable love story necessary?

I would not say that the screenplay turned out one-hundred-percent bullet-proof. With a story as big as this one, half of the unnecessary subplots had either little resolution or none at all. When Vee gets a tattoo for one of her dares, she tells her newly found boyfriend about the time her brother died. It could have been a meaningful moment, except it's never mentioned again, nor did it add anything to the story. Along with all the loose-ends and time- wasters, I also have one blaring question to ask: how did the police not know that any of this was going on? With a phenomenon as big as Nerve ruling teen culture, I feel like the police would have some involvement, but they didn't. I don't know how you just miss something like that.

Nonetheless, I'd be lying if I said I did not enjoy Nerve, because it delivered exactly what it promised: on-edge terror that never stops and splendidly pays off in the end. I am sure that if you are a boy or girl also obsessed with the juvenile culture of mobile gaming, then this should just as well please you.

Nerve is a thriller about peer pressure in the digitalised modern world.

It's about a shy girl named Venus who wants to prove herself to her friends, especially to her best friend Sydney.

Everybody around her is playing the game Nerve on their phones, including Sydney.

In the game you get dares and gain money when completed. It starts off with embarrassing moments but quickly gets to life-threatening dares for thousands of dollars with a ton of people watching.

It's a very exhilarating experience for the viewer with a lot of tense moments. The music is also very good and fits the setting of the movie. It shows how social media affects us nowadays and the dangers of it. But the ending leaves a lot to be desired.

All in all, I can definitely recommend watching this movie.

I guess, I was too old in age to watch this movie. It might aim at teenagers. To me, a grown-up middle aged man, the movie was boring and predictable. All boys and girls have stereotype characters. Especially boring is the fact that all characters are very conservative thinking, not much youth in them. They all go a bit wild during playing the game "Nerve". But after moral (not ethics) catches them up they fall back in place and will live ordinary boring lives. What remains after leaving the cinema, is the depressing fact that our digital world can only be thought as going mad, that internet brings out mostly the bad side of people, but very seldom the good. In these kind of movies the happy ends finish with the heroes turning off the computers or mobiles. But the kids going out of the cinemas don't.

Taking viewers for a glamorous ride, Nerve brings a harmonious medley entertainment and thought-provoking contemplation. A multifaceted movie, Nerve doesn't fail to give the comedic, thrilling, edge-of- your seat entertainment that moviegoers crave on a night out. The chemistry between Franco and Roberts, the intense visuals, and memorable soundtrack readily draws watchers (get it?) into the movie. These features complement each other so well that the hearts of viewers still race hours after the end.

For those who want a deep, discussion starting movie, the door is there for those who want to open it. There's no overt pressure from the movie to draw a certain conclusion, or for watchers to take a certain stance on social media. Rather, it presents an unbiased entry into the thrilling world of social media with its upsides and downsides. Franco and Roberts display superb acting in the way they manifest of their characters history and unique motives through the course of the adrenaline-filled night. Nerve provides a stunning look at the different personalities and impulses that draw people to social media without explicitly labeling motives as wrong or right. Nerve comes at an especially relevant time with the increasing concern over social media and its consequences, and the directors produced a wonderful spark to incite discussion and awareness on this important topic. However, there's no force on audiences to answer to the social media dilemma. Viewers draw their own conclusions as their personalities and thoughts guide them through the movie.

Nerve is quite the package. There's enough nerve-racking displays to keep your hearts thumping throughout the night, but there's also the second layer of radical questioning to plague your minds as the night goes on. All in all, Nerve is a great option for those who want to experience an alluring night filled with fun and great music, and for those who want a movie that draws out that reserved, subtle, philosophical parts in ourselves.

A novel concept (or as novel as a modernisation of The Running Man can be), Nerve has all the components that a film needs, but with glaring holes throughout it. Characters are developed and a backstory is created, it's not too predictable either. But it is pretty stupid, riddled with stereotypes and clichés.

There is quite a lot that could be picked apart; first and foremost that the watchers in this game must either be in their millions or investing thousands of dollars in each, considering the ridiculous amounts offered. Some of the scenes are plain daft (taking 2 minutes to get to 60mph instead of doing it in the space of seconds) and many others seem to just be a vehicle to get partial nudity of high school students, sex sells but it's just a bit creepy. Acting is okay, but as a millennial dystopia, it's not too unbelievable (until the end - ridiculous) but still quite lame.

I struggled staying until the end of that movie, probably because I am not within the right demographic,so I'd say, if you are shaving already, this movie is probably not for you! (But if you are not shaving yet I am not sure I would like you to see that movie) I usually enjoy college silly movies or even some high school centered movies, but this was too much for me. Only good reason to see this movie might be for a drinking game: take a shot every time they say "OMG!" This movie is surfing big time the Pokémon Go wave, it is an ode to so many things that as an adult,are bothering me: the social media addiction(Vine,FB, Instagram), it puts ego-centrism, greed, instant gratification, instant fame into the spotlight. It encourages people to break the rules for fame, it makes attention seekers, extreme thrill seekers looks cool. But at the end there is a nice little twist and a lame moralizing lesson, which tells us do not go too far, friendship and life is more important, awwww so true, soooo nice, but...too late, the movie just spent 90 min showing people that all this crap was cool, pretty much being an enabler, validating addictive, dangerous behaviors, in front of a young susceptible audience! (or an older audience wondering why the hell I am here) We all read stories of selfie takers who fell from a crane or roof or cliff because they were trying to score a cool shot for their social media profiles... The movie is rather fast paced, but it is just watching a succession of dares: steal this, be naked, get a tattoo, risk your life...it is actually not funny nor entertaining to watch this. The main actors are likable, but it is was not enough to make me forget how idiotic this movie was. I was fooled by the 7 average, but then I realized 80% of the people watching this movie were below 25, so like I said in my opening statement, this is for a younger audience (who might pause their Pokémon Go hunt or their posting on FB, VIne, Insta... for the duration of this movie, and get their nose back into their phone screen as soon as the movie is over)

Because of the title of the film and the theme, there was a suspicion that it would be another thriller about inhuman unknown forces from the inhuman Internet. But the film turned out to be about real people making real choices on this inhumane Internet. And even if not everything is in their hands, but they are not pawns, but people.