Nerve (Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman)

[TGM]

NERVE

Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

imdb

[TGM]

A little bit silly and a little bit obvious, but this movie was an absolute blast all the same. Definitely worth checking out, this one totally took me by surprise.

[Ivan Drago]

This looks like a fun gonzo B-movie in the same way The Guest was, then the mediocre reviews came out and I was hesitant to see it.

But I had no idea Joost and Schulman directed this! Now I'm all in.

[Ivan Drago]

This looks like a fun gonzo B-movie in the same way The Guest was, then the mediocre reviews came out and I was hesitant to see it.

But I had no idea Joost and Schulman directed this! Now I'm all in.

Aaaaand I thought it was a wasted effort.

It was well shot, and there's a lot of creativity in its use of color and graphics, but the Catfish directors sadly can't direct actors, and the supporting characters are annoying and underdeveloped. There’s a lot of cool themes in play pertaining to today’s self-absorbed adolescents and their obsession with social media, and it touches on them….but only for a little bit because there’s a lot of grating friendship drama that the movie would rather spend time with, and the stakes don’t rise until the third act. With its concept, Nerve could have been Cheap Thrills for teens, and a dark commentary about internet fame and the Me Generation, but it’s so poorly executed I couldn't even enjoy it for its ridiculousness.

[TGM]

Oh man, I thought the movie's themes were already a bit obvious and pretty on-the-nose as it is, I think going much further with them might've been a bit too much. But I personally thought the acting was fine overall, not great, but certainly serviceable for a movie such as this. I dunno, I still feel that this could be a fun and effective enough movie for people to check out. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Mal]

Mild nay. It's a good fun 90 minutes but there are too many unanswered questions regarding the origins of the game for me.
[

Show Spoiler

where did the money come from? why is there no evil genius behind the game that we find out about or something... ?!!??!

]

[TGM]

Mild nay. It's a good fun 90 minutes but there are too many unanswered questions regarding the origins of the game for me.
[

Show Spoiler

where did the money come from? why is there no evil genius behind the game that we find out about or something... ?!!??!

]

[

Show Spoiler

Agreed on the money issue, and I actually wondered that myself as well. As for the lack of an "evil genius" though, that's almost certainly an intentional decision, seeing as showing just how awful people can be when they're acting anonymously was one of this movie's biggest themes.

]

[Spinal]

This looks like a fun gonzo B-movie in the same way The Guest was, then the mediocre reviews came out and I was hesitant to see it.

But I had no idea Joost and Schulman directed this! Now I'm all in.

It definitely would have been more fun if it had been a little more gonzo. You could definitely feel the PG-13 rating holding back the consequences of the premise.

[Spinal]

Also, how weird to see Juliette Lewis cast as the concerned mom who just wants her daughter to stay safe and not move out of the house. I must be getting old.