Review of Project X (2012) by Grady H — 28 Jan 2014

When you can watch a 90 minute movie on fast forward in 45 minutes over lunch, you know there's something seriously wrong with character development.

Its not a new concept, the high school party to end all parties. The social outcast looks to prove his street cred and win the girl. Ever since the success of Rebel Without a Cause (1955) filmmakers have tried to capture the youth angst and rebellion on the silver screen, and ultimately chart a course of adolescence to adulthood in the character arc.

Every successful teen film of its generation has some degree of this character arc, whether Daniel LaRusso in the Karate Kid (1984), Jim Levenstein in American Pie (1999) or Charlie Kelmeckis in Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012). This history lesson is to illustrate that each generation will have teen stories to tell, and some (American Pie style), can include gross out humour and awesome stunts.

What the scriptwriters failed to conceive here, is that you can have the greatest pyrotechnics show on earth, but without characters that the audience sympathise and connect with, you are lost. With their misogynist, nihilist and narcissistic behaviour intact until the final credits roll, Project X is a lost cause.