Project X film review – Home Entertainment

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Written by Zen Terrelonge

(Rating: 18, 88 mins) Starring – Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown.

Forget every teen movie you’ve ever seen. Seriously, do it.

Whether you have memories of Stifler drinking sperm-tainted beer (American Pie), seeing a naked Chinese man leap out of a car boot (The Hangover), or witnessing a disturbed redhead performing masturbation to an unsuspecting party with her feet at a dinner table (Wedding Crashers), Project X is out to pass them.

It’s young Thomas Kub’s (Mann) 17th birthday, and who is Kub you wonder? Well, nobody really. At least, he’s a nobody in the eyes of his fellow peers (and father), and as a high school virgin that means a significant amount to him and fellow outsiders/best friends, the token crude and obnoxious loudmouth, Costa (Cooper). and regulation fat nerd, JB (Brown).

It just so happens Thomas’ birthday coincides with his parents’ wedding anniversary, which leaves them foolishly trusting their shy and retiring son to stay out of trouble while they leave town, an impossibility with Costa around.

Following the likes of Cloverfield and more recently Chronicle, the entire film is shot on a handheld camera by an AV goth named Dax as part of Costa’s documentation of Thomas’ big day, which allows the audience to become really immersed into the film/experience.

The three boys, well Costa anyway, leads preparations for a party at Thomas’, which is billed to be the party to end all parties in an attempt for the lads to become cool and get the holy grail of the female ladygarden. (Of course, that’s not the term used in the film)

The Hangover director Todd Phillips is on board for production duties and his influence seems to have rubbed off. I personally found the three central characters of Thomas, Costa and JB mildly comparable to Phillips’ own Stu, Phil and Alan, in the way that they’re portrayed – normal, wild and stupid.

Think of the most outrageous bash possible, and then double it, by 900,000, smothered in drugs, and you’ll be approaching something like Project X. If we ever saw what happened on the night that The Hangover boys forgot, it would probably look like that.

The film itself is actually based on the events of an Australian teen that invited over 500 people to his house via MySpace, which ended up causing $20,000 worth of damage.

The characters aren’t new or unique, and Costa is a lot like Stifler and every one of Jonah Hill‘s characters rolled into one, but Cooper nails the role with what seems like ease.

The film has a number of real jaw-dropping moments, some of which, most actually, will make you green with envy, while others will definitely be cause for laughing out loud.

For fantasy, extremes, a monstrous soundtrack and making me wish I was American, the film grabs an 8.5/10

Project X is available on Blu-ray and DVD now.