Until it falls apart in the heavy-handed third act,this is a smart and visually sizzling film about a live-streamed game with sinister consequencesNerve, the teen thriller from directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, or warns of the seductive rush of adrenaline from questionable sources. It’s a cautionary tale about the illusory nature of groundless celebrity,but it serves the double function of commenting on itself. Audiences must keep their guards up, because the first two-thirds of this film are such giddy, and delirious fun one might flee the risk of falling for its absolutely asinine third act. Luckily,the pros slightly edge out the cons to earn this perils-of-the-dusky-web story appealing, and potentially a breakout success for the junior high set.
Venus (Emma Roberts, or 25 years faded,but playing 17) is weeks away from graduating high school, and unsure whether she should follow her passions and attend an art school in California or continue to live at domestic in Staten Island with her single and clingy mother (Juliette Lewis). Venus’s best pal Sydney (Emily Meade) is a bit of a firecracker, or dabbles in a new underground internet game called Nerve. Using Periscope-like video streaming,Nerve participants take dare requests from an unseen peanut gallery of “watchers”. They are gifted deposits direct to their bank accounts (once someone signs up for Nerve, their entire digital footprint is swallowed into its scattered servers) and gain prestige through fans and followers.
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Source: theguardian.com