Movie Review - Dare (2009)

Dare
Starring Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, and Ashley Springer
Directed by Adam Salky

Some solid acting abounds in the indie film Dare, but while the high school characters spoke surprisingly realistically (as opposed to that über-intelligent older-than-their-years manner that is often prevalent in films and tv), their emotional arcs seemed slightly forced and oftentimes sudden which, unfortunately, hinders the movie from being a success.

Alexa (Emmy Rossum) is a drama student at the local high school and she longs to become an actress someday. She's quiet, subdued, and looked upon as a "geek" (for lack of a better word). When she gets advice that she needs to "live a little" in order to be able to express herself better on the stage, she seems to flip on a dime, turning from the good girl to the bad girl in a matter of hours.

The guy who gets the benefit of Alexa's newfound sluttiness is Johnny (Zach Gilford), the school ladies' man. Although popular, Johnny has many acquaintances, but very few friends, and his relationship with Alexa is a welcome addition to his life.

The guy who loses out from Alexa's change is her best friend, Ben (Ashley Springer). Friends since grade school, Ben has a very difficult time with Alexa's sexual independence, and it makes him question his own sexuality. One night, Ben takes Johnny home and surprises himself by coming on to Alexa's beau. Even more surprising is that Johnny seems to be amenable to Ben's advances.

Needless to say, complications ensue with this trio of high school students becoming more and more confused about their sexual identities. In the end, all three of these young actors are pretty decent with Zach Gilford's Johnny being the highlight of the trio. He's given the meatiest role and Gilford really does seem to be the best actor of the bunch. Unfortunately, the characters of Alexa and Ben seem to be underdeveloped, causing their life changes to seem silly and forced at times. Additionally, once you move outside of this young trio, all of the actors (including Saturday Night Live alumnus Ana Gasteyer as Ben's mom) are laughably bad.

An interesting tale (set in local Pennsylvania towns, no less), but two unbelievable main characters ruin any promise on display.

The RyMickey Rating: C-