Review of Nerve (2016) by Cdecl — 02 Oct 2016

In a word: stupid. Not that I was expecting a techno-teen-thriller (or at least this is how it looked to me from the trailer), but there is no tech, no thriller, just the teen part.

The nerd/geeks/hackers have nice outdated network graphics but there is no explanation on "how" (or at least "why"); the centerless gaming seems to be run by sociopaths (really, everyone was cheering for the V lady to the end, when everyone suddenly wanted her killed) or at least idiots. The decryption of real names from the login IDs is particularly idiotic, but let's pass this.

But the transformation of the heroine from one having fears just to talk to the high school male star into escaping almost nude from a store, driving a blind motorcycle race (and being even more insane than the male driver), and walking a (very insecure) staircase between two buildings in just a few hours ... I simply don't buy it.

The characters are also sketchy, acting is just ok (with the bad exception of Juliette Lewis mom being exceptionally stupidly scripted and unconvincingly acting - really, all the money disappearing from the family account and the only kid missing, after the older brother died at roughly the same age !). The script is linear, stereotypical characters (the leading pair, the nerd, the bad girl, the mom, and the unnamed evil) - just the directing is good. Might have saved the director for a The Fugitive-like movie.

Not recommended unless you have nothing better to do. Even so, you'll figure the movie in the first quarter of hour, and what's let to be discovered if we got to see Emma Roberts gorgeous body or not.