The_late_Buddy_Ryan Signing up Zack Gilford ("Friday Night Lights") and Emmy Rossum {'Shameless") to play a teenage Stanley and Blanche must've seemed like a real casting coup, but I'm thinking this film would've been better off with two younger, less charismatic stars—their characters are supposed to be slowly groping their way (in more ways than one) towards an adult identity, and these two seem like they're already fully formed. Still, their performances are the best thing about "Dare," which in spite of a promising storyline, still ends up feeling kind of unfocused and generic. The unstable triad of high-school player Johnny (ZG), ambitious art girl Alexa (ER) and "drama-club tech nerd" Ben (Ashley Springer) shakes out pretty much the way you think it will, though the ending's a nice surprise, and the most convincing scenes are the ones where the three leads interact with other characters, not with each other—Johnny goes off on a boorish classmate and on his therapist; Ben tries hard to keep his mother (also a therapist) from "analyzing"; prim Alexa talks smack with her dissipated BF (Rooney Mara). Excellent supporting cast—Cady Huffman turns up briefly as Alexa's pediatrician, Alan Cumming's a troublemaking HS alumnus and Johnny's therapist is Sandra Bernhard, no less; nice soundtrack and Philly Main Line locations (Johnny's absentee father has the perfect McMansion with lawyer foyer). "Dare"'s certainly not all that it might have been, but it's still quite watchable; turns up on cable a lot these days.

blakkdog This is a solid film I assumed was going to be a lame teen relationship flick but it turns into a somewhat clever unorthodox relationship flick that happens to utilize teens. Its broken into three parts where each part focuses on one of the three main characters. I liked that aspect of the film because it allowed us to get into the mind of each character pretty well and understand their turmoils and motivations. But the problem is once you're done with one character that character then becomes less deep which rubbed me the wrong way. You have a window into the emotional turmoil going on in Alexa that would allow her to use Johnny the way she does only to have her character fade to a somewhat two dimensional "girlfriend" character which basically acts as a foil to Johnny in his (and the last) bit. Ben fairs even worse I think going from the apparent nerd best friend of Alexa who we assume is secretly longing for her only to be thrown a twist (which was well done in my opinion) that he has actually been longing for Johnny not Alexa. But then once his chapter is done he becomes this terrible aggressive horn dog who only wants to get in Johnnys pants and he loses all the emotional turbulence and likability he had developed during Alexa's and his chapters. Yuck. What a way to ruin a character...I definitely enjoyed the bagel/banana scene but was unsure what we were supposed to think of Bens mom. Was she fancying Johnny? Was she just there to deliver a metaphor? You think its going somewhere then nothing comes of it. Also didn't like Courtney's character. She seemed a decent enough foil for Alexa at first but she devolves into this weird sad lush at the end whose sole purpose is to host the party where everything falls apart. And what was with that party anyway? Were they purposefully doing things to mess with Johnnys head? Why? Although both characters (Alexa and Ben) come off as selfish in their motives I didn't see them as nefarious or sinister or purposefully wanting to hurt him. Yet that whole scene had the feel of a purposefully planned torture session for Johnny. And we cant totally feel sorry for Johnny either. He gets used but his motivation is ultimately selfish as well. He wants a connection so desperately that he's willing to believe an impossible three headed relationship could actually work out for everyone and is devastated when it becomes clear that no... it cant...All in all its worth watching despite some plot holes and inconsistencies. I wish they could have figured out a way to keep the characters developed after their chapters were done but thats probably a real trick, understandably so.

Ced Yuen A pop-art animation shows a pair of hands, wrapped around an iPhone. On the screen, the thumbs tap out the opening credits. Occasionally, the hands reject incoming calls from Mom. They also accidentally type out things like "props!" and "OMG". It is a rather embarrassing attempt to seem down with the kids (or is that kidz?) but thankfully, it is also misleading. The film itself has an entirely different tone. 'Dare' is not another typical teen-rom-rom about puberty and trying to get laid.Alexa (Emmy Rossum) is an innocent, hard-working drama student. After failing to impress a big theatre star (Alan Cumming), she is advised to experience new things in order to improve her acting. She decides to seduce her drama partner, Johnny (Zach Gilford), who acts tough to hide his sensitivity. Ben (Ashley Springer), Alexa's gay best friend, is jealous of their relationship and decides to have a go at Johnny too. Their relationships soon become an uncomfortable and confusing love-triangle.The film is divided into three parts, each one following a different main character. The more focused characterisation allows for a more effective display of all the awkwardness and insecurity associated with adolescence. Each of the main characters is given their own screen-time to grow and develop, and as a result there is much more substance.'Dare' is at its strongest when the audience gets to see the characters go about their own lives, without the hassle of narrative development. On their own, the three individual segments of the film could have easily been short, John Hughes-esque films about different teenagers and their approaches to the issues of growing up. The character of Alexa goes from innocent, uptight bookworm to sexy party girl too quickly, but Rossum plays both 'versions' just fine. Springer does a good job portraying Ben's struggle to deal with his homosexuality, and it is touching to see him find confidence in himself. Gilford gives the most convincing and layered performance of all as Johnny. He channels Marlon Brando and James Dean in his sensitive tough-guy act and it is effective, especially when it becomes apparent that he has severe rejection issues.The problem with this kind of narrative structure is that there's too much characterisation for the love-triangle storyline. There is too much attention on each individual personality and not enough on mixing those personalities together. The characters end up changing too quickly, and it is clear that this is merely for the sake of pushing the love story along.The film's attempt to be a coming-of-age drama and a love story at the same time backfires. It is too much of a character piece for the love-triangle story not to seem forced. By the time the abrupt ending comes around, one can't help but feel cheated, or disappointed by the wasted potential.As a character study 'Dare' certainly excels, but as a narrative it is never compelling enough to be remembered. This film is likely to resonate with anybody who has ever been a teenager, but just because it resonates does not guarantee that it will be memorable. For his first feature-length effort, Adam Salky has done a decent job. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with in the future.

Havan_IronOak Dare was a genuinely surprising film. Having seen the short years ago at a gay film fest I thought that I knew what the story would be about and I was fully prepared to be disappointed that the feature wasn't as good as the short. Boy was I wrong! The film took me places I didn't expect and left me with images and ideas that I'll remember for a long time. There were likable, realistic characters that I genuinely cared about and a well written feature-length storyline that neatly incorporated the short that preceded it.There were spots where the film showed its indie-film roots but, for the most part, the scenes were studio grade. The dialog was mostly well written, the actors knew their craft, and the director succeeded in bringing all of the filmic elements together better than most works of this kind. The overall tenor of the film was moderately light-hearted considering the subject matter and does a nice job of balancing the problems of high-school life with its promise.Zach Gilford did a great job and turned a character that I thought of as a bit of a cad in the short into a sympathetic waif.This is NOT a major studio release and if you go into it looking for that you'll be disappointed but if you'd like to see a nice small movie that treats issues of being gay in high-school as just one issue that today's youth deal with, then this may be the film for you.