“Nerve” is a fast-paced movie with a compelling storyline. Young adults play the game called “Nerve,” which hands out a “dare” to the player, and if the player accepts and completes the dare in a certain time frame, he or she is rewarded with money and then given a new dare and can continue to play. However, the dares range from kissing a stranger for five seconds to walking across a great height on a ladder, which is strung out to reach from window to window of tall buildings. A young woman named Venus, called “Vee” by her friends, has always been in the shadow of her friend Sydney. Sydney is popular — she’s a cheerleader and owner of the leading points in the Nerve game. While on the field with her fellow cheerleaders and male athletes, she lifts her skirt to “moon” them all. When Vee takes a dare, she meets a young man named Ian by kissing him, and soon they are placed together to tackle other dares. They end up falling for each other.
Although it’s a tense-filled movie, it includes some comic relief, such as a scene in which money is being deposited in Vee’s account and her mother notices it on her phone and says out loud, in astonishment, “They’re putting money in the account!” A young black man replies, “That’s white people’s problems!” Vee begins to gain points quickly, and soon she is in competition with Sydney, which causes tension between the two. As with any intriguing story, things are not what they appear to be, and soon Vee and Ian have to make a fateful decision: they are told they will have to face each other with a gun, and only one of them can live.
Despite the intriguing plot and action, the film contains rear female nudity, strong language, and several sexual comments and innuendos. Therefore, we are prevented from awarding it our Dove “Family-Approved” Seal.