'Dare' review

Emmy Rossum and Ashley Springer (Credit: Image Entertainment)

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In this ménage à trois of storylines, three Philly high schoolers struggle with identity, acceptance and wanting to screw each others' brains out—not always in that order. Uptight overachiever Alexa (Emmy Rossum) wants to prove herself as an actress. Her sensitive best friend Ben (Ashley Springer) struggles with his sexuality. Both have the hots for douchebag rich kid Johnny (Zach Gilford), who, it turns out, isn't as predictable as you'd think. Lots of skin, lots of smooching, lots of sniping—hey, it's high school!

The buzz: Rossum, where art thou? The actress made a huge splash in 2004 with her Golden Globe-nominated turn as Christine in the movie version of "The Phantom of the Opera," prompting insta-It-girl chatter. Then...poof! She disappeared as quickly as she came, popping up in only two forgettable flicks since. Can "Dare" prove she's more than a flash in the pan?

The verdict: Rossum will probably have to wait until the next film for any real career momentum. "Dare" doesn't give her much to chew on, with its tired high-school stereotypes (the loner, the jerk, the type-A brainiac) and implausible story arc that forces Alexa to morph from Goody Two-Shoes to horndog bad girl in record time. That's the film's key problem. In trying to jam each character's storyline into a tight whole, it doesn't allow any of them to breathe and develop organically; everything fast-forwards in the service of the Big Reveal. Once you get to it, "Dare" takes some interesting turns—whaddaya know, Johnny's full of surprises—and leads to tender moments of honesty and discovery for our confused trio. It's still too little, too late.

Did you know? "Dare" is the feature-length debut for director Adam Salky and writer David Brind, and their impressive buddy list leads to cameos from Ana Gasteyer, Sandra Bernhard and Alan Cumming, as well as original music by Duncan Sheik.

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