By Travis Walters
“Dare” appears to be a familiar teen movie, but, in the end, offers a lot more. The film follows three high school students going through their final semester. Alexa (Emmy Rossum) is an overachiever who excels at everything, Ben (Ashley Springer) is Alexa’s best friend and Johnny (Zach Gilford) is the cool kid who appears to be tough, but is really a lonely guy.
The film is broken into three parts that focus on each of the characters, without appearing as though you’re watching three separate stories.
The first part focuses on Alexa. She is challenged by Grant Matson (Alan Cumming), a former student at the school, to fail and do something she wouldn’t normally do to become a better actress. This is the turning point for her, and subsequently the rest of the characters build on her willingness to break from her shell. She drops her bookish demeanor and befriends Johnny. Ben is upset by this, but for different reasons.
Ben is gay, but hasn’t told anyone. When Alexa becomes involved with Johnny, Ben gets angry, and, emboldened by Alexa, pursues Johnny as well.
Johnny has the whole school believing in his cool kid image, while he’s secretly lonely and more lost than Alexa or Ben. He has trouble connecting to people, and the heavier moments in the film are centered around him.
The characters break the conventional high school student mold we’re used to seeing. It seems like the movie should be a dark, heavy film, but the hilarious awkward teen moments leave you laughing the whole way through.
It will be released by Image Entertainment in New York City and Los Angeles on Nov. 13.
You can follow the film on twitter, facebook and their Web site for more updates on its nationwide release.