Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, the directing team behind Catfish, Paranormal Activity 3 and 4, and the new teen-oriented cyber-thriller Nerve, know how to affect coolness and currency without seeming to try too hard—a rarity in Hollywood. But all the street cred in the world can't un-dumb this ludicrous, self-serious dud, which stars Emma Roberts as a timid Staten Island girl who's peer-pressured into competing in a smartphone game of public dares with Dave Franco (an obvious red flag). Though fitfully engaging and periodically watchable, Nerve can't overcome its inherent weakness: it's about idiot kids doing idiot things. by Eric D. Snider