Director Adam Salky enters his own version of a coming of age film with “Dare”. Taking its backbone from an age-old story, he infuses interesting twist and turns plus a contemporary vibe for younger audience to relate to. In this sequence he tackles the trial and tribulation of three teen intertwined by a confusing early love affair complete with sexual privileges.
Set in a well-off Philadelphia suburb, the film follows the tale of three high school seniors, Alexa (Emmy Rossum), Ben (Ashley Springer), and Johnny (Zach Gilford), dealing with their raging sexual hormones and their upcoming entry to adulthood via the rite of graduation. Alexa, the goody-two-shoes bookish girl is desperate to nail her scene in drama class with her partner, class heartthrob Johnny (Zach Gilford).
Later on their on-screen partnership takes a wild turn as a made-up, vampy Alexa surprises Johnny at his house party, tagging along her nerdy, best friend Ben (Ashley Springer). Unknown to Alexa, her best friend was in the stage of discovering his homosexuality and attraction to Johnny as he secretly envies their newfound relationship. However Ben soon discovers Johnny takes on opposite sides in an unusual eye-opening sexual encounter inside a pool. The trio trudges into uncharted sexual territory complicating their relationships in the long run.
Adapted from a short film previously focusing on Ben and Johnny’s tales alone, “Dare” stretched out to include the character of Alexa. She was a crucial addition to explore the series of sexual encounters among the three.
Salky and writer David Brind earns kudos for their thoughtful take on shifting point of views among the three to take audience into the character’s different perspectives of their complicated lives whilst revealing several hidden layers to their personas. Brind created an amazing approach to the story by unearthing deep struggles these teens suffer from to create moments of unbelievable instant maturity.
Members of the cast stood out perfectly in their roles. Emmy Rossum convincingly transitions Alexa’s character from polite prude to sassy vixen while portraying secretly the existing presence of the uptight woman she used to be. Ashley Springer provides Ben a seductive innocence to his recently discovered homosexuality. While Zach Gilford innately possesses an androgynous handsomeness which makes Johnny’s romantic desires a teasing mystery leading the momentum of the film. Ana Gasteyer starring as Ben’s mother brings a realistic depth to the aged-hippie role.
Though fantastic and blunt in its own ways, “Dare” faces an immense marketing challenge for no major stars would hold up the film except Emmy Rossum. Aside from that, the frank sexual themes injected with homosexuality could be too vulgar for the audience tastes as well as the critics.