Dare [DVD]

Features

• Type: DVD
• Studio: eOne Films
• Language(s): english
• Actor(s): Emmy Rossum, Zach Gilford, Ashley Springer

Emmy Rossum (The Day After Tomorrow, The Phantom of the Opera), Zach Gilford (TV's Friday Night Lights) and Ashley Springer (Teeth) head up a stellar cast including Ana Gasteyer (Mean Girls), Rooney Mara (A Nightmare on Elm Street), comedienne Sandra Bernhard (TV's Roseanne) and Alan Cumming (X2: X-Men United) in this captivating story of high school seniors at the crossroads of their adult lives. When a pompous actor tells good girl Alexa (Rossum) that she hasn't lived, she embarks on a bold journey that takes her to mysterious bad boy Johnny (Gilford). Envious, her she best friend Ben (Springer) also dares to pursue Johnny, complicating Alexa's romance and pushing the boundaries among the three friends. With empathy, low-key humor, and discreet sexual suggestiveness, Adam Salky expands his 2005 short into a critical look at the way stereotypes can define--and confine--teenagers. While working on a senior-class production of A Streetcar Named Desire, three "types" collide: the good girl, the best friend, and the bad boy. Party girl Courtney (Rooney Mara) serves as the glue that binds the unlikely trio. Her studious friend, Alexa ( The Phantom of the Opera's Emmy Rossum), doesn't think rich boy Johnny (Zach Gilford) takes things seriously enough. Alexa's other friend, the sexually ambiguous Ben ( Teeth's Ashley Springer) supports her at the expense of his own needs, but their roles shift after theater actor Grant Matson (Alan Cumming in a too-short cameo) observes a rehearsal and praises Johnny's naturalism at the expense of Alexa's stiffness (Ben works the lights). The virginal Alexa decides to take Grant's advice to live a little, even seducing Johnny at a party. Their newfound closeness strains her relationship with Ben until he acts on a similar impulse, confusing the increasingly vulnerable Johnny further. The speed with which the central characters change doesn't always ring true, but the cast, including Ana Gasteyer as Ben's mother and Sandra Bernhard as Johnny's therapist, invests a schematic scenario with believability. Gilford, in particular, shines in his first significant part since nice-guy quarterback Matt Saracen on NBC's Friday Night Lights. Fans of Pretty in Pink and Cruel Intentions, to which Dare bears some comparison, should find Salky's first feature of particular interest. --Kathleen C. Fennessy