Project X is certainly a product of its time. Filled with sex, crude humor, alcohol, rap music and teenagers behaving poorly–yes, it does sound like a Girls Gone Wild video. Though to be fair, It’s pretty funny. However, as I was walking out of the movie, it had me thinking: the end suggests living in the moment, rather than for the future. Is this really a great value for people? Ridiculous ending aside, the ending itself is sort of a sham. The ending almost ruins the entire movie. What was the point? If this was meant to be a comedy filled with montages and crazy teenagers, it might as well have been on MTV. But it’s not: it’s a movie that has a purpose. Project X provides us with a half- baked idea about ‘living in the moment’ and it ultimately left me cold and uncaring.
This is indeed another ‘found-footage’ movie. In this case, however, the people are not dead. Instead, it is told from the perspective of several ‘loser’ high schoolers who long for the popularity of other students. They want the alcohol, the women and the crazy parties. Thomas Mann plays Thomas, who’s birthday is today. Costa, played by Oliver Cooper, wants to throw a big party, despite Thomas’ reservations. But, of course, it happens anyway–and you know the rest. They hope that this party will launch them into the ‘elite’ group of ‘popular, cool’ kids. Problematic and atypical as the premise may be, it manages to serve up some laughs along the way. Project X could have been something more than the sum of a few laughs along the way, but it isn’t. In fact, it’s a lot less.
Much of the drama actually occurs much later in the film, only a little after the party has erupted into an uncontrollable mass of teenagers. This is where it actually works to some degree: a man from across the street wants them to call off the party and put everything to rest. It slams on the breaks shortly after and again falls into relentless montage. Project X, really, struggles to be dramatic in any real sense. This is a case of ‘style and idea over execution and substance’. Director Nima Nourizadeh forgets to add the substance into the mixture–it’s all style, but no drama. Quick fix after quick fix. In one scene, Thomas is finally coming to terms that this party has gotten out of control, to the point of no-return, only for his friend, Costa, to offer him ecstasy, which then he takes and all is ‘normal’ again. Nima has some opportunities for some solid, dramatic material with the friends, but squanders it with simple solutions.
That’s merely the tip of the iceberg for Project X’s problems. Thomas, Costa and the little-seen, goofy JB, are all utterly without note. They serve the story so the party can erupt, but afterwards, they merely fall into the backdrop as events unfold. In the beginning, we see Thomas as a loser–his dad even to some degree thinks he is–and not much else. Shallow characterizations and caricatures. Is Thomas more than a loser? Well, maybe, but in this case, he’s a loser who can throw a really big party. He has no personality that Nourizadeh cares to share with us. No one, including myself, is insisting that this be some deep, thoughtful character-driven piece, but some character is required to make a film endearing in any real way.
Nourizadeh isn’t a bad filmmaker by any measure, but Project X feels more like a music video. In a way, I guess it sort of is. As inventive and interesting as the production was, (apparently it was shot with flip phones and other handheld devises), it would’ve worked better as a short film, but as a feature it lacks the dramatic emphasis of a real film. Funny as it may be, it feels more like it should have been a YouTube video rather than a film playing at the cinema. Project X is an enjoyable, but unfulfilling experience. Your time might be better spent elsewhere.
