Julien and Sophie are two
precocious, adorable children who grow into two beautiful but
severely immature and hedonistic adults. The dare game they play
with the candy tin is but a device they use to torment each other,
as they are clearly in love. Only when one of them is holding it
can anything close to real feelings be revealed, and even these are
subject to the rules of the game.
Theirs is a doomed relationship--as is any relationship our heroes
enter into with anyone--because both Julien and Sophie are
destructive, damaged, and dysfunctional...but (mostly) in a way
that is funny and engaging to watch. Other reviewers have
complained about the characters' inability to show empathy for
others, but "Love Me if You Dare" isn't about other people, it's
about the relationship of Julien and Sophie, the way it consumes
and dictates the course of their lives. Anyone else who appears in
the film is peripheral and is to be discarded thoughtlessly, as the
writers obviously did.
Although at times it is hard to root for these two train wrecks of
human beings, it is often harder not to. They are, after all,
beautiful, charismatic, and in love.
