Loosely based on Australian Corey Worthington’s wild house party, Nima Nourizadeh’s 2012 film Project X showcases the “best high school party ever.” The question here lies in if the movie is as good as the party it depicts. Filmed from a first-person, motion camera perspective, I can say Project X is not for anyone prone to seizures. The wild nature of the party causes the camera man to move the camera around like his elbows don’t exist. I had high hopes for this movie when I initially saw the teasers and trailers. Sadly, this movie has far more downs than ups, but can still be a fun watch. Let’s get to the breakdown.
The aspect of Project X that stands out the most to me is the acting. The unknown cast of Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Johnathan Daniel Brown, and even the “camera man” Dax Flame are by far the reason the movie was as enjoyable as it was. The collaboration of personalities from these guys is about as good as it gets and they fit the characters they’re portraying down to the punctuation. Project X’s focus is to make you think this party is real. The phenomenal cast makes that possible. Everybody acts and reacts the way it feels they should, and it flows flawlessly throughout.
The story line is simple. Yes, literally simple is all I have to say about it. It’s about a guy and his two friends throwing a birthday party that is going to be the greatest of all time. They’re all horny high-schoolers that want to get their rocks off with the potential beauties that will attend their party. Their high hopes to get laid fuel this party and make it the badassery that it was. The movie really had me losing interest though up until close to party time. There wasn’t really much humor in the first half of the movie (except for one scene with Oliver Cooper’s character, Costa, and his drug dealer T-Rick, played by Rick Shapiro). The bulk of the humor is injected into the huge party scene (and by party scene I mean 50% of the movie), but there’s nothing that had me in tears laughing or really even laughing out loud. Project X really just provides a few chuckles. The party itself is the main attraction (obviously) and how wild it gets is the only selling point. There’s nothing complex about the script, which is disappointing.
The soundtrack for Project X is definitely fitting, and quite enjoyable. Despite the fact that the electronic and rap music depicted in the movie isn’t normally my cup of tea, it was definitely form-fitting for the movie and I enjoyed listening to a few of the tracks. A lot of club mixes of popular songs, like Kid Cudi’s ‘Pursuit of Happiness,’ are thrown into the mix to make it somewhat of an ultimate DJ set for the ultimate party.
Is this movie worth seeing? It was definitely worth a watch. It’s something to watch if you’re looking for something to kill the time. I also recommend watching with some friends as this is the type of movie definitely geared towards group watching. I wouldn’t go out and buy the super Blu-Ray/Ultraviolet/X-Ray/DVD/MP3/AVI combo pack or anything, though. I would recommend hitting your local DVD rental service to give this one a shot.
Overall, we’ve got a simple concept, a fantastic cast, a solid soundtrack, and a movie worth a rent and watch. Project X has a lot of things it could have done better, but considering that there isn’t many party flicks out there, this one is worth giving a shot.
