Even if a manic high school party filled with drunk 17-year-olds sounds like your idea of hell, Project X will still do a good job of taking you along for the ride. The story and characterisation are paper thin, with the sense that the filmmakers were keen to get those pesky talky bits out of the way so they could get to the good stuff. The set up is thus: it’s Thomas’ (Thomas Mann) birthday and best friend Costa (Oliver Cooper) wants to throw him the best party ever, scoring greater social status in their school as a result. And it has happened, with parties thrown in the UK after Skins became a sensation recalling scenes of Project X almost exactly. One saw 300 uninvited guests descend onto the ‘small gathering’ in Bournemouth, another a severely traumatised family dog after partygoers gave him drugs. Daily Mailers in the UK have already seized upon this style of uncontrolled party, but the US were famously unreceptive to their own remake of the E4 show, so who knows how they’ll respond to Project X‘s drunken shenanigans. The film is extremely shocking (in a good way) at various points, and will delight younger viewers with the excess on display, but it also manages to be quite believable. It’s a tale as old as time, with three teenage have-nots reaching legendary status through a series of winning moves, getting the desired girls into bed and causing inconvenience for the older generation. But no matter how far the chaos escalates, and you won’t believe how far it actually goes, the high-point right before will soften the blow of the next astonishing plot point. The friendship between the three leads seems desperate to recall those in superior teen films like Superbad, and with a knowledge and appreciation of those earlier films, viewers will be able to apply whatever history they like to the relationship. But this is not high praise for Project X as it stands alone, and it relies too heavily on tropes and stereotypes from its genre to fill in the gaps. Director Nima Nourizadeh is far too preoccupied with shooting the shindig to bother with such things as character development, and it’s a good and bad thing. The party looks absolutely stunning, steadily growing to heroic proportions before, like Thomas, you’ve had a chance to process what’s already happened. The central concept of Project X will almost certainly turn off any cinemagoers over 25, but I’m keen to encourage those on the fence to give the film a chance. It’s throwaway fun aimed at enticing the youthful masses, but the entertainment factor compensates admirably for what’s lacking elsewhere.