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Project X

5/10

Stars: Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper, Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kirby Bliss Blanton, Alexia Knapp, Miles Teller

Director: Nima Nourizadeh

One of the many Hollywood films - mainly teenage flicks - that could have been called The Wild Party, this one centres on nerdy Thomas Kub (Mann), whose parents go off for the weekend. His aggressive go-to pal Costa (Cooper) goads him into holding a birthday bash to deal with his lack of popularity at school, and advertises it virtually nationwide, fuelling his own hopes of getting laid.

Their fat friend JB (Brown) is drawn into the scheme, but even Costa is surprised at the numbers that turn up - well into four figures. One by one, Thomas's taboos - don't touch my dad's car, or go into his study - go by the board, as well as his own seduction by the luscious Alexis (Knapp), which hurts his embryonic gf (Blanton), and the party thumps on into the night with naked revellers in the pool, on the roof and pretty much everywhere else, until neighbours call the police.

A vengeful drug dealer, whose stash of Ecstasy has been accidentally appropriated by the boys, storms in with a flame thrower, police in cars and helicopters swoop, and the house is predictably totalled.

The party is actually so wild as to be mildly entertaining - in fact it feels more like going to a rave-up than watching a movie - although the use of Ecstasy and apparent cruelty to a dog are a bit worrying if you think about it, which you probably won't at the time. It's OK for late-night fare, though mainly for filmgoers of a similar age to the stoned-out ravers here. Incidentally, the phrase 'Project X' is never mentioned.

David Quinlan

USA 2012. UK Distributor: Warner Brothers. Technicolor.
88 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 18.

Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 2, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 2, Swearing 2.

Review date: 29 Feb 2012