YMMV / Project X (2012)

• Awesome Music: The whole soundtrack, really. To be expected of a wild party. Special mention must go to "Battery" by Metallica during the party's finale.
• Award Snub: In terms of the MTV Movie Awards's infamous Best Onscreen Dirtbag category in 2012 — which looked to be centered more on antagonistic bullies or instigators rather than straightforward villains — Oliver Cooper as Costa — a Jerkass hedonist — is a more appropriate pick than either Jennifer Aniston for Horrible Bosses who won — playing a sexual extortionist — or Bryce Dallas Howard for The Help — playing a racist and malicious debutante who was actually way more suited for an actual Best Villain nomination.
• Catharsis Factor: The midget giving Costa a Groin Attack and Thomas slamming Costa into the front car seat are both considered to be the most satisfying moments in the film.
• Critical Dissonance: Critic reviews were very negative, yet the movie recouped its budget eight and a half times over, and as Misaimed Fandom shows, earned an unexpected following.
• Designated Villain: Rob, the neighbor, is regarded as a big party pooper who just doesn't want the partygoers to have any fun, but he didn't even ask them to shut down the party until nearly midnight, and he wants the party to end because the noise is keeping his wife and child awake. Despite his good reasons, though, the movie keeps treating him as if he wronged the kids, and he ends up getting tased, stalked, tackled, and nearly getting his house set on fire for his troubles.
• Director Displacement: Todd Phillips was a producer on the film, but didn't direct it.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The dwarf is the most liked character in the movie, mostly because he punches many people, including Costa, in the testicles after he gets out of the oven in which he was imprisoned.
• Harsher in Hindsight: While a damaged home and a bad hangover may be the only consequences partygoers faced in the movie, a couple weeks after it was released, a string of copycat parties have caused over $100,000 in real damage, handfuls of arrests, and a Houston teen fatally shot.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Costa is utterly despised by most viewers for his repugnant nature, being bigoted, amoral, and responsible for numerous problems. Compare that to T-Rick, an Ax-Crazy drug dealer who goes as far as purposely setting the entire neighborhood on fire out of pure spite. It also helps that the latter ends up getting arrested, whereas the former ends up avoiding punishment (except for three pending paternity lawsuits).
• Love to Hate: The midget, who repeatedly Groin Attacks people for no reason, is quite memorable among viewers. It also helps that Costa is one of his victims.
• Misaimed Fandom: The ending shows that the party destroyed the main characters' lives. This hasn't stopped many people from holding real parties inspired by the film, which have also resulted in several deaths.
• Moral Event Horizon: While T-Rick was rightfully mad over having his ecstasy gnome stolen, he crosses the line when he purposefully sets the entire neighborhood on fire, endangering the lives of hundreds in the process, including a baby.
• Retroactive Recognition: A pre-Whiplash Miles Teller appears... as a character named Miles Teller.
• Strawman Has a Point: Despite being framed as a party pooper, Rob is correct that the party, if escalated, would eventually destroy the neighborhood and not only keep him and his family awake but also put them in danger, justifying his attempts to shut it down and cursing Costa for not heeding his requests before it was too late.
• Too Bleak, Stopped Caring: Thomas is a wimp and a Butt-Monkey who never realizes the troubles he's getting into until it's too late. Costa is a foul-mouthed, sex-obsessed sociopath who is also racist, misogynistic, and downright disgusting. J.B. seems to exist only to be a Fat Idiot mocked by Costa; he never grows a spine to stand up to him. And their cameraman is implied to be a psycho who murdered his parents. Rob, the neighbor, is the Only Sane Man, but he is an ineffectual Designated Villain who gets tased and beaten up; his family also gets nearly killed in a fire. The angry Jerkass dwarf is the only character worth rooting for in this grimdark deconstruction of teen movies.

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