Jenni uses her Film Degree to do a Review: Project X
Never in my wildest dreams did I expect the story of Corey Worthington to become a movie.
And yet, a couple weeks ago - there I was, sitting in a dark theatre watching an homage to the famous A Current Affair interview.
I guess Melbourne should be proud for spawning such a phenomenon?
If you have no clue what I am on about - and this will pretty much explain the plot of the movie as well - in the outer suburbs of Melbourne back in 2008, 16 year-old Corey Worthington through a house party while his parents were away. He put an invite with his address up on myspace and about 500 "unwanted" guests showed up (aw, myspace! Remember those days?! Apparently I've earned some kind of badge for joining myspace before it was cool? Which was never.... amirite lolWHUT).
The party got out of hand, caused some damage and made the news - then the video where Corey was interviewed and refused his sunglasses off went viral. Even two years on, I would get American friends come up to me and say they've just seen this crazy kid from Australia. And I would endeavour to let them know that we are all like that "Down Under", just to keep them sated.
So, Warner Brothers (and in some ways, an old boss of mine... weird) transported this basic story to be about three best friends in America celebrating a 17th birthday. The stakes are raised (throw in a crazed, vengeful drug dealer), the party is bigger (500 becomes 1000-2000) and the repercussions are glossed over (but to be fair, Corey Worthington ended up on Celebrity Big Brother - so his life wasn't so hard after the party, either).
My main issue with this movie is that it was just kind of neither here nor there. It didn't impress me or appall me. It just was.
I do have to respect it for its ambitious conceptualism though. It was filmed in a very faithful documentary style - the main footage was captured by a friend documenting the whole day, who we only creepily see on camera once in a mirror. The rest of the film was captured by cast members and extras with their phones - and voila, you have a movie.
The editor is clearly the true genius of the piece.
Because another problem with it - it is inanely fun. It has so many shots of booty dancing and excessive drinking that it comes off more as an extended music video than a narrative film. And it works... it's just like a ridiculous party - filled with regret and fearlessness. It's not unenjoyable in the least.
The three main actors could easily be confused for non-glamourous, real-life versions of the boys from Superbad - and it is funny. It has the same sense of humour as the aforementioned film, which is a plus.
But at the end of the day, it is glorifying parties, especially to that under-age bracket - and I don't want to sound like an old schoolmarm, but it never really hammers home the consequences of what the boys did. So, it probably will encourage kids to have parties that absolutely trash their parents' house just to appear cool... and we kind of don't need that in our middle class lives, do we?
At the end of the day, it's enjoyable, ridiculous and undeniably fun. But I don't see the point in it. So instead of giving the movie another thought - I'll just listen to Steve Aoki's remix of the Pursuit of Happiness when I need my Project X fix.
Project X was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, written by Matt Drake and Michael Bacall and stars Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper and Jonathan Daniel Brown.
And yet, a couple weeks ago - there I was, sitting in a dark theatre watching an homage to the famous A Current Affair interview.
I guess Melbourne should be proud for spawning such a phenomenon?
If you have no clue what I am on about - and this will pretty much explain the plot of the movie as well - in the outer suburbs of Melbourne back in 2008, 16 year-old Corey Worthington through a house party while his parents were away. He put an invite with his address up on myspace and about 500 "unwanted" guests showed up (aw, myspace! Remember those days?! Apparently I've earned some kind of badge for joining myspace before it was cool? Which was never.... amirite lolWHUT).
The party got out of hand, caused some damage and made the news - then the video where Corey was interviewed and refused his sunglasses off went viral. Even two years on, I would get American friends come up to me and say they've just seen this crazy kid from Australia. And I would endeavour to let them know that we are all like that "Down Under", just to keep them sated.
So, Warner Brothers (and in some ways, an old boss of mine... weird) transported this basic story to be about three best friends in America celebrating a 17th birthday. The stakes are raised (throw in a crazed, vengeful drug dealer), the party is bigger (500 becomes 1000-2000) and the repercussions are glossed over (but to be fair, Corey Worthington ended up on Celebrity Big Brother - so his life wasn't so hard after the party, either).
My main issue with this movie is that it was just kind of neither here nor there. It didn't impress me or appall me. It just was.
I do have to respect it for its ambitious conceptualism though. It was filmed in a very faithful documentary style - the main footage was captured by a friend documenting the whole day, who we only creepily see on camera once in a mirror. The rest of the film was captured by cast members and extras with their phones - and voila, you have a movie.
The editor is clearly the true genius of the piece.
Because another problem with it - it is inanely fun. It has so many shots of booty dancing and excessive drinking that it comes off more as an extended music video than a narrative film. And it works... it's just like a ridiculous party - filled with regret and fearlessness. It's not unenjoyable in the least.
The three main actors could easily be confused for non-glamourous, real-life versions of the boys from Superbad - and it is funny. It has the same sense of humour as the aforementioned film, which is a plus.
But at the end of the day, it is glorifying parties, especially to that under-age bracket - and I don't want to sound like an old schoolmarm, but it never really hammers home the consequences of what the boys did. So, it probably will encourage kids to have parties that absolutely trash their parents' house just to appear cool... and we kind of don't need that in our middle class lives, do we?
At the end of the day, it's enjoyable, ridiculous and undeniably fun. But I don't see the point in it. So instead of giving the movie another thought - I'll just listen to Steve Aoki's remix of the Pursuit of Happiness when I need my Project X fix.
Click to viewProject X was directed by Nima Nourizadeh, written by Matt Drake and Michael Bacall and stars Thomas Mann, Oliver Cooper and Jonathan Daniel Brown.