Nerve Review

     Nerve.  

Emma Roberts

Dave Franco

     Let's talk about Nerve, the movie written by Jessica Sharzer and directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost was an action packed film about the anonymous YouTube/thrill seeker era that we theoretically live in. A shy girl, Emma Roberts, is forced to grow into a strong character that shows true nerve by standing up to the faceless crowd.

     Here's the good:The characters that Sharzer created were very well written and had arcs that were very well developed in the short time they live on the screen. Franco was a perfect fit for his character, a pretty/bad boy who has a heart and the supporting cast was well chosen. The idea and creativity surrounding the cinematography was absolutely superb. Use of angles to give that cringe worthy feeling pushed us to our limit and the tempo never for a second felt rushed or annoyingly slow. Well done. 

     I also really enjoyed the twist ending, I usually try to guess what's coming and usually I'm right or very close. This movie had two possible endings that would have been worthy of honors: one was the ending they chose, I did not guess that was coming and it was well played on the writing/directing side. The other ending would have been if Dave Franco's character would have killed Vee, Emma Roberts' character.While that wouldn't have been the popular or fairy tale kind of ending people like but it would have been a fitting twist.

    And now...the not good about this film. 

I want to preface the first negative by saying I am not attacking her personally or her talent as an actress, I've seen Emma Roberts in other things and I was very impressed. But...this film had moments that she just was not the right actress for. An example would be the big speech in the finale: she stood in front of all the Nerve watchers and spoke about how they don't have 'nerve' and it's easy to be tough hiding in the crowd. This was supposed to be where she asserts herself as a strong leader who falls short in persuading everyone but still shows she truly has 'nerve' 

     She not only failed to own that scene, but her bad acting took me completely out of the feeling of that big turning point. That wasn't the only scene that she didn't own, another small yet pivotal moment was when she was embarrassed early on by her best friend in front of the guy she had a crush on, it felt very forced like Vee was told she had to be angry and then slowly caught on that she had to. I feel that the part of Vee was not played by the best actress for that particular part. I actually think the supporting actress would have served better as Venus, Emily Meade. 

     Aside form the negatives, this is a fast paced and very well made movie that should and most likely will have a solid fan base. Out of 22, I give this an 18.

P.S. I do not see many movies in the theaters more than once, I'm going to see this another time...that's how good Nerve is. Thank you for reading and have a great day!