I have a special place in my heart for teenage house parties. They were always unique, unpredictable and somehow intimate. Anything could happen during these and everything mattered because you actually knew the people you were partying with. Your life could change for better or worse after a house party. PROJECT X is a movie about teenage boys organizing a party in the age of social media. It's a clever and well-narrated film that takes teenage issues way too seriously. I had a good time with it, but what was the point of making a movie as different as possible from your run-of-the-mill teenage flick if you're going to say the exact same things with it? Seemed a little counterproductive to me.
Thomas' (Thomas Mann) parents are skipping town on his birthday and his friend Costa (Oliver Cooper) is planning to take over his house to organize the greatest party of all-time and get goth weirdo Dax (Dax Flame) to document the process for posterity. Of course, Costa put the invite on social media and it travels all the way from Twitter to Craigslist. Nobody shows up at Thomas' house before 9 PM, but once they start flocking, it doesn't stop. People they know, people from school, adults from the neighborhood and LOTS of people they don't know. The kids' task (well, Costa's) is to keep the party alive until the break of dawn. Only problem is that it's getting bigger and bigger and there is no way to know when it's going to stop. You know what they say: ''When you lose control, let go of the wheel and think about something pleasant.''
A movie like PROJECT X speaks to the person you really are. If you watch this film viscerally, you're missing the point that it's deliberately trying to provoke a reaction out of you. Screenwriters Matt Drake and Michael Bacall don't care about their characters as much as they care about pushing the boundaries of what can happen at a house party. It's a state of suspended reality where teenagers free themselves from the identity that daily life forced upon them. It'snot unlike what the carnival meant to people in Renaissance Italia. So whatever excess PROJECT X depicted, I laughed. Unlike most critics, I laughed in the second part way more than I laughed in the first. It's way more original and outlandish. It's only when the party starts getting out of control that PROJECT X really develops an identity of its own. It waited too long before letting loose, but it was worth it once the movie got into gear.
That said, PROJECT X is a very problematic movie also. First of all, if the party is a beautiful thing, the kids' motivation to organize it are weak. They want to get some poon. That's it. Since Thomas is the only character with a pinch of depth, he's the only one getting any action. The house is crawling with horny, soulless drunk chicks and the neferious trio of Thomas, Costa and J.B. score with about one chick and a half. So yeah, part of PROJECT X's marketing strategy was to show a lot of horny, drunken, soulless chicks, to attract teenagers who identify to Thomas, Costa and J.B. There is a fairly significant part of hollow sexual filler in PROJECT X and it's disappointing that our teenage protagonist don't evolve one bit. In fact, they seem to devolve as the movie's message stresses: nothing is important outside a moment everybody will remember. When Thomas' dad tells him he doesn't have a college fund anymore, Thomas kisses the girl and the credits roll. Of course.
Part of being a teenager is suffering an all-devouring lack of perspective on your own life. Every moment seems Shakespearean. Every weekend night feels like the last night on Earth. PROJECT X created a party that reflects teenage reality, but handed it to tired cardboard stereotypes. The result is an ambivalent movie that confused some viewers and angered the most moral ones. I understand why people got upset at it, but I thought that from a teenage movie perspective, PROJECT X dared to go beyond what you're being usually offered, trying a new approach to the genre and challenging a couple clichés (while wallowing in others). It's not going to change the world, but it wasn't meant to.
That said, PROJECT X is a very problematic movie also. First of all, if the party is a beautiful thing, the kids' motivation to organize it are weak. They want to get some poon. That's it. Since Thomas is the only character with a pinch of depth, he's the only one getting any action. The house is crawling with horny, soulless drunk chicks and the neferious trio of Thomas, Costa and J.B. score with about one chick and a half. So yeah, part of PROJECT X's marketing strategy was to show a lot of horny, drunken, soulless chicks, to attract teenagers who identify to Thomas, Costa and J.B. There is a fairly significant part of hollow sexual filler in PROJECT X and it's disappointing that our teenage protagonist don't evolve one bit. In fact, they seem to devolve as the movie's message stresses: nothing is important outside a moment everybody will remember. When Thomas' dad tells him he doesn't have a college fund anymore, Thomas kisses the girl and the credits roll. Of course.
Part of being a teenager is suffering an all-devouring lack of perspective on your own life. Every moment seems Shakespearean. Every weekend night feels like the last night on Earth. PROJECT X created a party that reflects teenage reality, but handed it to tired cardboard stereotypes. The result is an ambivalent movie that confused some viewers and angered the most moral ones. I understand why people got upset at it, but I thought that from a teenage movie perspective, PROJECT X dared to go beyond what you're being usually offered, trying a new approach to the genre and challenging a couple clichés (while wallowing in others). It's not going to change the world, but it wasn't meant to.