"Dare" is Daring, But Could Be Bolder With Gay Theme

(L to r) Ashley Springer, Emmy Rossum and Zach Gilford in Dare

One of the great lessons of adulthood is that adolescence sucks for pretty much everyone. Whether you’re the nerd working the lights for the drama club, the golden boy with the big house and the often-absent parents or the Type-A, hard-working good girl, the teen years are a nightmare of self-doubt, identity confusion and hormonal imbalances.

Writer David Brind and director Adam Salky don’t sugarcoat adolescent anxiety in Dare, their new feature based on their short film of the same name, even though the action plays out in a leafy suburb populated with spacious, well-appointed homes.

The film’s central triangle involves Alexa (Emmy Rossum), who’s got aspirations of being an actress; nerdy Ben (Ashley Springer), her lifelong pal who’s otherwise a friendless loner; and handsome Johnny (Zach Gilford, Friday Night Lights), whose encounter with the other two rocks all three of their worlds.

Alexa and Johnny are supposed to be partners in an acting class scene from A Streetcar Named Desire, but Johnny’s lack of interest drives Princess Perfect Alexa up the wall. They’re called upon to do their scene for visiting actor Grant Matson (Alan Cumming) — “my only student who made it,” notes drama teacher Dr. Kolton (Cady Huffman) — but while Grant effuses over Johnny’s raw animal power on stage, he has nothing to say to Alexa.

Alan Cumming

After class, Matson scolds Alexa, telling her that there’s no way she can become an actress until she’s done some living — fall in love, get hurt, fail at something, whatever, just have some sort of emotional resources to take to the stage. That weekend, Alexa lets a friend give her a slutty makeover so she can put the moves on Johnny at his house party. The two become lovers, and their off-stage romance puts some electricity into their scene work.