Are you a Watcher or Player? That’s the question poised by today’s debut trailer for Nerve, the darkly stylish adaptation of Jeanne Ryan’s original novel.
Boasting a plot that reads as though David Fincher’s The Game had been retooled for the Snapchat generation, Emma Roberts and Dave Franco become prey to a series of truth-or-dare challenges, becoming little more than entertainment for viewers at home.
Themes of surveillance and George Orwell’s Big Brother are somewhat lost amid the garish style and frenetic editing, but we remain cautiously optimistic that Liongate’s viral-friendly thriller can carve out an audience. Guiding Ryan’s novel from page to screen are co-directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, best known for their work on Paranormal Activity 4 and, more appropriately, Catfish.
Here’s a synopsis pulled from the author’s source material:
Industrious high school senior, Vee Delmonico [Emma Roberts], has had it with living life on the sidelines. When pressured by friends to join the popular online game Nerve, Vee decides to sign up for just one dare in what seems like harmless fun. But as she finds herself caught up in the thrill of the adrenaline-fueled competition partnered with a mysterious stranger [Dave Franco], the game begins to take a sinister turn with increasingly dangerous acts, leading her into a high stakes finale that will determine her entire future.
Also starring Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Juliette Lewis, Colson Baker (Machine Gun Kelly), and Kimiko Glenn, Nerve will make a break for theaters on July 27.
