Project X
Metascore
48 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 25 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 25
  3. Negative: 10 out of 25
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  1. Arizona Republic
    Reviewed by: Randy Cordova
    Feb 29, 2012
    40
    The kind of fantasy that a 15-year-old boy would love, although parents probably should keep younger teens far, far away. This movie pushes the boundaries of its R rating about as far as they can go.
  2. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    Feb 29, 2012
    67
    Tonally one of the strangest films of the year thus far, Project X is at heart a John Hughes-esque celebration of that fleeting teenage moment prior to actual adulthood when throwing a badass backyard party could instantaneously elevate your social status, and cement bonds of friendship that would last a lifetime, and get you laid all in one go.
  3. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    Mar 1, 2012
    50
    The party itself is something to see. A Pasadena blowout turns into a horny, druggy, apocalyptic scene culminating in riot police, news choppers, and a gentleman with a flamethrower.
  4. Boxoffice Magazine
    Reviewed by: Sara Maria Vizcarrondo
    Feb 29, 2012
    40
    The film's strength isn't its shock tactics - it's the rapid-fire, party montage editing that finds a million natural ways to put mundane actions and moments up against each other for comic effect.
  5. Empire
    Reviewed by: Chris Hewitt
    Feb 29, 2012
    20
    Witless, charmless, teen twaddle. Let's take all prints off the film, and bury them. Don't bother marking the spot with an X.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    Mar 1, 2012
    75
    Project X, likewise, serves up the frat house/Spring Break/Snooki-and-Sitch-on-a-bender antics that many in the audience will have been staring at for years, and implies that it's breaking down bold new barriers of misbehavior. In the end, though, it ain't nothin' but a party.
  7. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Robert Abele
    Mar 2, 2012
    30
    The only way to describe this movie's trio of party-throwing protagonists is numbingly predictable, as if writers Michael Bacall and Matt Drake had "Superbad" on a loop in the background.
  8. Miami Herald
    Reviewed by: Rene Rodriguez
    Feb 29, 2012
    100
    Project X is an astounding, superlative movie about adolescence - a brutal, unapologetic comedy about the fantasy every high school kid carries around in his head about being popular and cool and beloved.
  9. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Michelle Orange
    Mar 1, 2012
    30
    A party disaster movie targeted at kids who find the "Hangover" franchise too sophisticated.
  10. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Elizabeth Weitzman
    Mar 1, 2012
    20
    Though the central blowout is as epic as advertised, so is the movie's self-congratulatory obnoxiousness.
  11. New York Magazine (Vulture)
    Reviewed by: Bilge Ebiri
    Mar 1, 2012
    50
    As a tribute for the awesome destructive power of the teenage libido, the house-party-gone-apocalyptic flick Project X is pretty compelling...Think "Girls Gone Wild" meets "Black Hawk Down." Unfortunately, it also appears to want to tell a story, with characters and things, and on that level it pretty much completely falls apart.
  12. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Sara Stewart
    Mar 1, 2012
    25
    There is no way you could make this movie stupider or more pointlessly noisy than it already is.
  13. NPR
    Reviewed by: Andrew Lapin
    Mar 2, 2012
    20
    Project X strives to appall, and it would be similarly self-deluded to pretend this jumble of ecstasy and crotch shots is anything other than repulsive.
  14. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    Mar 3, 2012
    63
    Project X's first-person verisimilitude is the movie's primary strength and most damning weakness.
  15. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    Mar 2, 2012
    63
    Most teen flicks just fake being fueled by anarchy. But the gut-bustingly funny Project X is the real deal. It's raunchy, reckless and ready to party. What's not to like?
  16. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Amy Biancolli
    Mar 1, 2012
    50
    With most movies, the question for viewers is: Who should see it? With Project X, the most pressing issue is: Who shouldn't see it?
  17. Slant Magazine
    Reviewed by: Andrew Schenker
    Mar 1, 2012
    12
    Awesomeness seems to be the chief quality prized by both the film and its characters; all other considerations--like safety, property damage, and especially good taste--are secondary.
  18. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    Feb 29, 2012
    42
    It's crude in every sense: The film looks like shit, the characters are boors, and it's as sloppily put-together as the home movie it pretends to be. Project X's commitment to its crudity almost redeems it, though.
  19. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Rick Groen
    Mar 1, 2012
    50
    Judged by the usual aesthetic standards – Project X sucks. It's just another lame movie. Yet apply a different standard, the mores of our time, and you get a different verdict: Suddenly, it's a perfectly lame movie that speaks intriguingly to the way we live now.
  20. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Todd McCarthy
    Mar 1, 2012
    30
    Despite a couple of unconvincingly upbeat tacked-on moments at the end, Project X basically reads as nihilistic, as not believing in or standing for anything. Not even fun.
  21. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Mar 1, 2012
    100
    The Oscars are swell, but once in a while a film comes along that is so courageous it deserves consideration for the Nobel Prize. An entire generation has been born and gone to college since the Beastie Boys defined that most basic of civil liberties: You've got to fight for your right to party.
  22. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: Joshua Rothkopf
    Mar 2, 2012
    80
    Deeply irresponsible, this a film that will give parents seizures-and Roger Corman a big old smile.
  23. USA Today
    Reviewed by: Claudia Puig
    Mar 1, 2012
    25
    A movie about a teen party gone horribly wrong, would be every parent's worst nightmare if it weren't so inane.
  24. Variety
    Reviewed by: Peter Debruge
    Mar 1, 2012
    70
    This game-changing instant classic will doubtless inspire imitators, onscreen and in backyards everywhere, en route to redefining what a new generation expects of its mice-will-play movies.
  25. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Melissa Anderson
    Mar 3, 2012
    30
    "There's a midget in the oven!" is about as inspired as the dialogue and set pieces get in this queasy-making entertainment.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
5.8 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 190 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 44 out of 77
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 77
  3. Negative: 28 out of 77
  1. ReviewCritic
    2
    An unfunny, stupid movie. Not much else I can say.
  2. BIGREESE
    10
    Let me first say that the only reason I saw this movie was because of the New York Times review. I watched this movie from start to finish and realized it was barley a movie at all. It was literally the filming of the most epic party ever. You cannot watch this film expecting character development, deep plots or script. It is literally the filming of a night as it unravels. The cinematography and use of flip cams was awesome and really well done. The only reason why i wont dismiss this film as bad, is how true it is and accurately it portrays a big portion of high school teens. I myself am a senior in high school and can say, the script accurately shows how we talk and the party shows the way we act. the only part i was iffy on was the instant consumption of about 70 ecstasy pills, that i feel would have been met with more hesitation. But long story short, This is simply the filming of an epic night that Millions wish they could have.… Full Review »
  3. DanielOnFilm
    0
    My goodness! Never before have I seen such an affront to common decency and traditional values as in Project X. This so called "film" has no plot, and just shows kids as young as seventeen using foul language, drinking, and smoking pot. At one point, they use some kind of designer drug called "ecstasy." Several teenage girls bare their breasts, and premarital sexual relations are strongly implied. Actually no. My entire reaction to Project X was, "This is lame, man. Really lame." If only this film were an affront to decency. I wish it were offensive. If only it were the slightest bit funny. There's no real story. Once you've seen five minutes of it, you've seen all it has to offer. It isn't half as wild and crazy as it pretends to be. In a movie where racy content is the attraction, there's more implied than shown. The characters are one dimensional at best, and frankly, the actors are uniformly amateurish. Full review on my blog.… Full Review »
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