I read Nerve a couple weeks ago in preparation for the movie, which I just saw today. At first, I was not going to see Nerve as the trailer did not really appeal to me. However, the trailer grew on me as I kept seeing it all over the place. Then I found out that Nerve was adapted from a YA novel, and I thought I would give it a chance. Besides, I love Dave Franco and Emma Roberts. Anyway, I’m glad I did!
For the most part, the movie made changes that raised the stakes for all of the characters involved. Most of the backstories for the characters were cut or made shorter for the film. For example, in the book, Vee loves fashion and works on costumes behind the stage for her school’s theater productions. Several months before the story begins, Vee accidentally fell asleep in the garage while her car was still running. Her parents freaked thinking this was an attempted suicide and lost their trust in her. All of this was cut in the movie. Instead, Vee is a talented photographer who has been accepted into her dream school but is having trouble telling her mom. It’s just Vee and her mom as her older brother died two year prior sometime shortly after his high school graduation. Even though the theater part was taken out, Sydney is still a drama queen who obsessively wants to play NERVE.
As for the actual game, NERVE was changed a little bit. There were still Watchers and Players, but the Watchers chose the dares for the Players and these dares were way more intense and action-filled. As I stated earlier, these new dares raised the stakes. As for the setting, the movie takes place in New York City instead of Seattle and all of the players are playing in this one city. Throughout the night, the players are trying to gather as many watchers as they can and the two players with the highest amount of watchers are chosen for the final round. The prizes for each round are just different amounts of money, which was done to make it simpler and because of some of the cut storylines.
I think the actors did a great job portraying the different characters and were able to stay true to them at their core. I also really liked the visual effects with the phones/computers and thought that they were a fun addition to the movie. I was also a fan of the new dares, even though some of them were INTENSE. Overall, I enjoyed the movie more than the book and I would definitely watch it again.