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| Director: Nima Nourizadeh (2012) |
The premise behind Project X is simple, 3
friends aim to throw the party of a lifetime. The idea behind said party starts
with humble beginnings. As his parents go away for the weekend, Thomas and his
2 buds, Costa and JB plan a gathering to mark his birthday. Scared no one will
turn up; he enlists Costa to invite people on his behalf. Mass marketing and
the use of craigslist later, the cap of 50 people Thomas set is smashed
considerably. From here on, project X is equivalent to a Ferrari speeding flat-out
down a motorway for an hour.
In the place of story, project X director Nima
Nourizadeh gives us wonderful stunts. Skateboarding off of roofs, hanging from
chandeliers and jumping through windows, it’s all here in full force. These
events spiral out of control towards the films climax and become lacking in
plausibility and logic. Thankfully the scale of the party increases, with Nourizadeh
conveying a frenetic, feel good spirit through almost a dozen montages. The
content of these is as you can expect, drugs, alcohol, and horny teenage boys
scoring with horny teenage girls, all put to a club and hip hop soundtrack. The
downtime between these montages mostly consists of Thomas worrying about his
house, as well as a few outside threats to the party itself. Its disappointing
that all this is fluff, filler just to pad out the running time already short
running time. But the disappointment of the dramatic element becomes irrelevant
as the film charges head first into another sense assaulting montage. It’s like
sugar; it gives a great buzz but offers no long lasting sustenance.
While project X is riddled with flaws, some
are bigger culprits than others. Things get a little too silly in the final
act, and while I enjoyed seeing a crazy party, when events become life
threatening, the film loses its fun. The romance plot arc was useless and
tacked on in a poor attempt to give a story less film closure. When making
something as experimental and freeform as project x, closure is about as useful
as non alcoholic beverages. As much as teenage boys love it, the camera lingers
on the body of women a little too much here. We get it, the party is full of
attractive girls, but here it very much becomes a form of exploitation. The chance
to include any form of weaving tracking shot through the party is an
opportunity missed however; screaming volumes about the quality and ambition of
the film.
If you’re a teenager, Project X is the
stuff dreams are made of. An endless party with no rules or constraints,
infinite alcohol, no law, consequence or regret, just sheer drunken euphoria is
etched into every frame. Project X is not a good film, nor is it clever or
responsible. It exploits its target audience to the maximum possible degree;
hell the swimming pool in Thomas’ backyard has more depth. But it captures the
free spirit of youth just as well as anything else out there, and for that, and
only that, it is to be recommended.
5
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