Movie review: 'Project X'
In "Project X," a "Hangover" for teens, Thomas Mann plays Thomas, a gawky upper-middle-class teen, and Oliver Cooper, in the Jonah Hill role, is Costa, a blustering transplanted New Yorker. Costa eggs on Thomas as they plan a parents-out-of-town birthday party, mocks their mutual "fat little 'Rain Man'" pal J.B. (Jonathan Daniel Brown) for being in the school "Gay-V. Club" and is hell-bent on turning this North Pasadena fete into an epic party that will be the "game changer" for their social status, lift them into their high school's elite and give them access to sex with the school hotties.
Things start to go wrong only when they rip off Costa's well-armed, disturbed drug dealer. Costa has blasted the invitations all over social media, so the socially anonymous Thomas will be hosting hordes of "randoms," peers who don't know he exists. Not to worry, though. Costa has hired a team of middle-schoolers led by Tyler (Nick Nervies, hilarious). They have nunchucks and tasers and jackets with "Security" on them.
What could go wrong?
Naturally, Thomas must pursue the hottest girl in school, who is utterly compliant. Naturally, his gorgeous longtime pal Kirby (Kirby Bliss Blanton), the only woman given even a hint of personality, is hurt by this.
This Todd ("Hangover") Phillips production produces its share of explosive laughs, mostly of the "Oh my God" variety. Yeah, the cops show up. And the TV news helicopters. And an ill-tempered dwarf (Martin Klebba, in a cameo that steals the movie).
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But it's a wearying "romp," from its tired "lose our virginity" formula (worn out even when "Superbad" used it) to the conceit of making this a "birthday" mockumentary, ostensibly filmed by the goth-video nerd Dax (Dax Flame). Director Nima Nourizadeh loses track of that for long stretches of impossible-for-Dax-to-get angles and edits.
Even with all the scores of random shots of pert female bottoms, topless teens and ogled short skirts and shorter shorts, it's hard to say if screenwriters Michael Bacall and Matt Drake or Nourizadeh are unrepentant pigs. Maybe Phillips ("Old School") is their Costa, the bottom feeder egging them on in their pursuit of the bottom — and bottoms.
2 stars (Fair) Rated: R (crude and sexual content throughout, nudity, drugs, drinking, pervasive language, reckless behavior and mayhem - all involving teens) Starring: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper Directed by: Nima Nourizadeh Length: 1 hour, 33 minutes Playing at: AMCG, DEST, FISH, HUDV, LYCE, ORPH, PALIS, PALTZ, PGAL, ROSV, SHOW