Project X
The idea of making a “found footage” raunch comedy, on a large scale, seems like a “can’t miss” idea creatively. No, really. Admittedly, for every terrific raunchy comedy there seems to be two or three bad ones, but I can see the appeal for filmmakers like Todd Phillips, who produced this film. The premise is simple enough: three high school friends (Thomas, Costas, and J.B.) are filming their attempts to throw a massive, blow-out birthday party for Thomas, who’s turning 17. Their goal is for it to be big enough to make them cool, but as you’ve probably gathered from the previews, things get kind of crazy.
In all honesty, you’ve probably noticed that I’m not that high on Phillips as a director; yes, I love the original “Hangover,” but most of his other films (“Due Date,” “The Hangover Part II,” “Starsky & Hutch”) haven’t really hit the mark with me– they have their moments, but as a whole, they lack a cohesive, comedic whole. “Project X,” written by Matt Drake and Michael Bacall and directed by Nima Nourizadeh, struck me as that same type of experience. It’s one thing to have moments of comic chaos, but when the entire film takes on that sort of anarchic tone, it’s hard to really become fully engaged in some sort of narrative. (“Due Date” and “Hangover II” had the same problem.) That said, Phillips and his creative team have some wildly funny ideas up there sleeves, like having a couple hundred partygoers staying quiet in the backyard when the police come to check things out; teenage security guards who take their job so seriously, they tase a neighbor trying to shut down the party; Thomas’s phone call with his father, as the party runs out of control around him; and I’d be remiss not to mention the gnome the boys steal from a drug dealer to be their “mascot.” The whole thing ends with a four-alarm fire, a destroyed neighborhood, and an equally pissed-off and proud father as his Benz is fished out of the pool. Does it make me think I wasted my youth by NOT rebelling on this scale? Not really. Still, “Project X” had some fun times to share. I can live with that.
