What’s a guy to do on a Tuesday afternoon with a free movie ticket in his hand and the opportunity to get $2 popcorn? Go to the movies, of course! I did just that on Tuesday and now I’m back at it again with another review. This time, I’m talking about a film I’ve been wanting to see since I first saw its trailer: Nerve.

The film, based on a Jeanne Ryan novel of the same name, tells the story of Vee (Emma Roberts), a high school senior who likes living life inside her comfort zone. So much so, she almost passes up an opportunity to study photography – her passion – at an arts school in California in favor of attending school locally and staying with her mom in New York as she knows she wouldn’t be able to afford anything else. Thanks to her outgoing friend, Sydney (Emily Meade), and mounting pressure to take risks her in life, Vee discovers a game called Nerve. The game is a glorified truth or dare in which participants can choose to either be a watcher or a player. Watchers decide what dares the players should perform and, in turn, the players receive money for completing them. The game warns you that if you bail or fail, you lose all your money and if you snitch about the game, something bad will happen to you. There are a series of rounds until one player remains. It seems like Vee is enjoying her newly-found, risky side having met and fallen for a daring guy, Ian (Dave Franco), along the way. However, Nerve and its community of watchers begin to control every move Vee makes and she can only get out by beating the game itself.

I know that last line seems corny but, for the sake of not spoiling the film, I decided to end it at that. I’ve been anticipating Nerve for quite sometime and it didn’t disappoint. It was thrilling from start to finish. The acting was brilliant as well, particularly Juliette Lewis as Vee’s not-so-tech-savvy mom (her best line being when she asked Vee’s friend Tommy, played by Miles Heizer, if she was being hacked after money was mysteriously deposited into her bank account while Vee was playing the game). This film will take you on a journey to a world that doesn’t seem too far removed from ours today. As I sit and type this review on my iPhone, it’s crazy to think how connected we are via our technology and how a game similar to Nerve could very well come to fruition – but since directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman’s world had touchscreen MacBooks, we may still be a few years out. 🙂

I Give It An: A

Check Out The Trailer Here