You won't be disappointed!

Perfect cast and a good story

Just what I expected

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I only give this film a 6 because, having seen the short-form original on the BOYS LIFE 5 DVD compilation, I generally prefer it over this feature film. The only point in this film's favor is that it develops the character of Johnny Drake, who was virtually raised in an emotional vacuum. The creators totally blow the ending of this film, by not having Johnny develop a relationship with either Alexa or Ben that satisfies his desire to be loved. The short-form film never touches on this theme, and I believe is better because of it. That film at least leaves the viewer wondering what might happen in the future with Ben, but neither film leaves the viewer with a satisfactory resolution. Believe me, the version of the story told in 20 minutes works better from a cinematic perspective that this drawn-out version of the same story.

An almost insurmountable problem for me while viewing 'Dare' was, yet again, a filmmaker (and an Indie one to boot.) who cast actors too old to play high school teens. One would have gathered from the main and featured characters that they were in a movie about some college campus with a heavy population of post-graduate students. Hollywood has done this kind of casting since time immemorial. Don't the producers/directors realize that they're using a visual medium to tell the story? Not a radio show, not a play in a large theater but a movie, using close ups as well as medium and long shots. For a couple of the actors another dead give away is when they opened their mouths to speak. They sound like young adults, not 17 or 18 year old's. The movie, though revisiting an already well chewed story, is competently done, the performances are well directed and acted and director Adam Salky has done very well in this his first feature film. P.S.: I thought the major trauma that occurred to John near the end of his section could have been made clearer. Afterwards, I was never completely certain of what had happened to him prior to his deciding to become a serious student of acting at the very end of the movie.

One of the worst films I have ever seen in my life. Emmy Rossum is trying to prove to everyone that she isn't just the girl next door, she is the slutty girl next door on crack.I'm confused, are we supposed to feel sorry for these rich kids who don't know what to do with their lives but to booze, drug up, have all kinds of unprotected sex and still make it into high society, corporate America and become future bureaucrats like their parents? Uh, to quote an "f" bomb like one of the ones used in the film. "I don't effing think so." This film deserves an "F" as in "F***". Avoid this movie like a plague. You have been warned.

The movie is split into four acts. The first three tell the story from the perspective of each of the three main characters, respectively, and the last act is a kind of epilogue. The film is still linear though, meaning that while the second act shows a different perspective than the first, it's still a continuation of the story, rather than a restart from the beginning. The rest of the acts continue that way.The first act had me wondering why I was putting myself through what seemed to be your run-of-the-mill teen drama that might as well have been an episode of The O.C. rather than a feature film. A typical high school "good girl" who always played it safe and never got into trouble starts questioning her value system. She wonders if being "bad" would benefit her, namely, to give her the life experience she needs in order to realize her dreams of becoming an actress. Her lifelong platonic male best friend is worried about her newfound rebelliousness, and he even feels betrayed by it.Sometime during the second act is when this film started to deviate from anything I had expected. When the third act came, the story had gotten so messed up that I felt ashamed of my initial assumptions. I'm not even going to hint at what happens, because it might soften the impact of seeing it unfold on the screen. All I'll say is that it deals with questioning the seeming obviousness of people's sexuality and popularity. This turned out to be something of an artsy picture that didn't focus on typical Hollywood entertainment values. It's "smart", in that it's not always obvious what exactly is going on, and there's no voice-over to tell you what the characters are feeling. It's an original story that makes you think.Was this movie good? Tough call. The acting is excellent and the production quality high. Some people might be bored or just confused by this, due to the strangeness and ambiguity. If you like a deviation now and then from the norm, you might appreciate it, and if you're into independent film, definitely give this a shot.