Thursday, March 15, 2012

Project X

It's a "one crazy night" film. And the crazy night in question involves the life-changing birthday party of not-exactly-popular Thomas (Thomas Mann). Held while his parents are out of town and planned with horny, frenzied energy by his bad-influence friend Costa (Oliver Cooper), the event quickly turns from typical teenage debauchery into an insanely hyperactive fantasia of escalating destruction, an Apocalypse Now of property damage and throw-up. Like what would happen if the bad behavior cult film Over the Edge were even harsher and a comedy, the action here presents itself as more immediate and dangerous thanks to you-are-there cinematography that can be traced directly back to artists like Larry Clark, Terry Richardson, Ryan McGinley and Ed Templeton, guys who pointed their cameras, documentary-style, at the young, sexy, wasted and irresponsible.
Everything on screen feels dirty and ready to burst with horrible consequences. And that's what makes it so wrong and seductive. It taps into every young person's anxiety over feeling left out while the cool kids are doing something better across town, as well as the innate need to feel that you've participated in something epic and legendary. Consequently, there will be plenty of adults who'll freak out over the nonjudgmental tone the movie affords its characters' puke-centric activities, and they're probably the same adults who've made The Hangover movies a big hit.
Funny thing about that: Todd Phillips is the man behind this and those Hangover films. And if you go all the way back to his first feature, the documentary Hated about self-destructive punk rock legend G.G. Allin, you'll see Phillips' fascination with young people who push things too far. As producer of this first effort from director Nima Nourizadeh, you can feel his guiding hand shoving everything over the cliff. There's no such thing as too much for him and probably the only reason there are no scenes of people setting their own hair on fire while eating potato chips that are also on fire is because some knucklehead already did that on YouTube and now it's boring.



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