The 9 Most Scathing Critical Responses to Project X

The reviews are in for the Todd Phillips-produced uber-party comedy Project X, and three out of four critics agree: It is the douchiest, most mean-spirited debauch of the year. (To date, anyway; we'll see what kind of revisionist zest Steven Spielberg and co. bring to Lincoln.) Hop aboard Movieline's scorched-earth golf cart and let's go for a spin... 9. "Youve got to hand it to Warner Brothers and producer Todd Phillips: They have painstakingly engineered the perfect film for todays attention-impaired audiences. Are you a texter? A talker? Have at it. There is no way you could make this movie stupider or more pointlessly noisy than it already is." - Sara Stewart, NY Post 8."It would be easy to say Project X objectifies women, if the word 'object' didnt imply too much dignity." - Keith Phipps, AV Club 7."Although it behaves as if its closest antecedent is a John Hughes teen movie, Project X plays more like a blend of music video, College Rules-style porn, and apocalypse-gazing. Its all hyper-sensory flash and amateur titillation, aint it cool party-dogging and an ecstatic taxonomy of all the different ways you can drink a beer." - Michelle Orange, Movieline 6."Project Xs title has no bearing on its premise: a teenage house party in a quiet Californian suburb that spirals out of control. Nor is it connected to the 1987 film of the same name in which Matthew Broderick rescues a band of tormented chimpanzees, unless perhaps the chimpanzees wrote it. [...] Overall, its flamboyantly loathsome on every imaginable level, and a great many unimaginable ones besides." - Robbie Collin, The Telegraph 5."[Oliver] Coopers brash, bragging Costa, in particular, is the most annoying movie character since Jar Jar Binks. Youd never tire of punching him. [...] Lets take all prints of the film, and bury them. Dont bother marking the spot with an X." - Chris Hewitt, Empire 4."How bad is it? It kicks off the proceedings with the soundtrack blaring the 2 Live Crew classic 'Hey, We Want Some Pussy,' and that winds up constituting the closest that it comes to both quiet dignity and quality writing. [...] It is so bad that it deploys a running gag featuring shenanigans involving a pet dog that even Michael Vick might take offense at." - Peter Sobczynski, eFilmCritic 3."It is not normal adolescent rebellion depicted here: it is sociopathic insurrection. Its an orgy of destruction that is meant to be cool. And its not a cautionary tale. Its not a warning that recognizes that real-life teenaged boys can indeed be colossal idiots sometimes, and perhaps we need to work together as a society to minimize the damage they can do, like perhaps training up our sons to be responsible citizens. Its a celebration of colossal adolescent idiocy as something we should all aspire to, and would do, if we could only be as awesomely cool as a horny 17-year-old boy." - Maryann Johanson Flick Filosopher 2."Project X is classless, mean-spirited, repugnant, deplorable, off-puttingly sleazy, and thoroughly contemptible. It is also searingly depressing - there isn't a true laugh in sight - as well as worthless on every cinematic level one could name, imagine, or dream up." - Dustin Putman, DustinPutman.com 1."[A] certain self-justifying, feel-good impulse compels the filmmakers to imply that, even if [the characters] do nothing further of note in their lives, they'll always have this. Herein lies the film's lack of point-of-view, leaving it to the viewer to decide if the import of the evening is a joke, a tragedy, an irony or a victory. 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." - Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter Reviews via Rotten Tomatoes. Browse more of Moveline's Scathing Critical Response features here. Follow S.T. VanAirsdale on Twitter. Follow Movieline on Twitter.

Broadcasters Ask The Court To Block Aereo, Alleging Copyright Infringement

It didn’t take long for several companies with NY television stations — including PBS, Fox Television, Univision, and WPIX — to challenge the new firm that wants to sell Web streams of the broadcasters’ over-the-air transmissions. (UPDATE: ABC, CBS and NBC Universal also filed a complaint today against Aereo along with a statement: This service is based on the illegal use of our content. Beyond that, we believe the complaint speaks for itself.”) Aereo said last month that it would launch its $12 a month subscription service in the Big Apple on March 14. In addition to retransmitting TV signals, Aereo — backed in part by Barry Diller — would offer customers the ability to record and watch shows on demand,much like they would with a DVR. But the station owners asked the U.S. District Court in NY to issue an injunction, alleging that the new business “free rides on (the stations’) substantial investment in their broadcasting infrastructure.” The rights that they buy to their content are “the economic foundation upon which the television production and distribution industries rest.” If the court doesn’t act, the plaintiffs say, then Aereo will undermine the stations’ ability to create business opportunities by streaming their content. National Association of Broadcasters spokesman Dennis Wharton says the group “strongly supports” the suit.”A plaintiffs’ win in this case will ensure the continued availability of (free and diverse) programming to the viewing public.” Prior to today’s action, Aereo said that it was not infringing on broadcasters’ rights: The company has a tiny antenna, about the size of a dime, for each customer.In effect, subscribersrent them to pick up the free, over-the-air signals that they also can receive at home. The argument is similar to the one that Cablevision successfully made in court on behalf of its remote storage DVR.