Project X
I am not a party animal. I know how shocking this is because I seem so gregarious and outgoing from the confines behind the screen of a blog on movie reviews to movies I have mostly gone to by myself. It is shocking but as a teenager as I am as an adult, I am deathly afraid of making an ass out of myself at a party. So I cannot tell you stories from my red Solo cup or some story when the hottest girl in school vomited all over the prom king and he barely noticed. No, I have none of those stories in my repertoire because well I was a loner columbine eligible teen who people mostly stayed away from and therefore did not invite to their parties. As an adult, I am a guy who goes to parties under protest and barely ever because I actually want to. The best moment of a party for me is probably the quiet reflection when I don’t have to say anything and instead listen to the one girl at the party who does not shut up and secretly wonder what would need to happen to cause her to in fact go silent for five minutes. Don’t get me wrong I like people but I do not have any affinity for people who are the leading authority on everything or have a story about their cat that I have to hear. I am a miserable bastard who rarely is given cause to celebrate (the last time I wanted to celebrate, I wasn’t allowed to because I was a secret). Therefore I do not have any reason to want to see movies based on the very things I loathe. Still I go to most parties I am invited to because I am just anti-social enough to have friends.
This whole diatribe on my anti-social behavior leads me to this week’s movie. Project X is yet another found film movie and thankfully they are attempting another genre than horror. The story is nothing new. A teen with very few friends wants to throw the party of all parties and win the heart/vagina of the hottest girl in school. Can’t Hardly Wait, Weird Science, Superbad and countless other movies have used this formula to great success. Project X is the first I can remember with the found/character filming the action movie formula. The movie is about Thomas, a kid who wants to be popular enough so people will know who he is. His best friend (and we all have a friend with more mouth than experiences) Costa wants to get laid and their “McLovin” sidekick, J.B. is looking to meet a classy woman. Even Thomas’ parents don’t think much of going out of town on their son’s birthday because well as his father says “He’s a loser.” And the party begins slow with the guys just sitting around the house, playing video games and complaining that their version of the party (debauchery galore) is never gonna happen. The Bouncy house will go unbounced in, the pool will not be the river of naked women and Costa will not get the sex he so desperately wants. Then the doorbell rings and what seems like the entire city of Pasadena shows up. The party is on. There is drinking, drugs, destruction of property (with flamethrowers) and nudity galore. It is a teenagers wet dream. At first Thomas is freaked out that his house is gonna get trashed (which it does in epic fashion) but after a few drinks, kissing his best girl friend and taking a little Ecstasy, he loosens up and his night really begins. From saving his dog from being ballooned away to a drug dealer with a flamethrower to the hottest girl in school giving him the hottest birthday present ever, the movie carries through what I am sure ends up being the best birthday Thomas ever has.
I can’t really tell you what I thought about this movie because the showing I went to was empty save me and my imaginary friends. A movie like Project X is meant to be seen in a crowded theater where you can get the communal laugh and chuckle at the nudity and drug addled brains of the teenage protagonists. So I was left feeling underwhelmed, not through any fault of the movie but because there was no one to share the party with. It was an anti-social kid’s wet dream. Completely alone in a theater filled with a party all around you. Yet I felt lonely in the middle of a movie. So I would recommend the movie because even in my lonely, unhappy, creeping towards middle aged mood, I still laughed and enjoyed the experience. This is truly a party to behold. I would just recommend bringing a few people with you to join in the revelry. This is a communal movie in which the whole group enjoys the movie because of who you are with, not necessarily the pictures on the screen. It really is a lot like a party.
Mr. Unhappy sez: See the movie and bring 4-5 of your friends. That way when you want to turn to someone and crack wise, you’ll find something better than an empty seat.
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Because of the length and rather inadequate length of this blog entry I am gonna follow it up with a review of some of upcoming movies. A movie trailer on the current movie trailers.
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