( CNN ) -- Since `` The Blair Witch Project , '' `` Cloverfield '' and `` Paranormal Activity , '' it 's been impossible to see a camcorder movie without steeling yourself for some monstrous horror lurking just offscreen . `` Project X '' is supposed to be a comedy , but parents with teenagers -- or parents with kids who may one day turn into teenagers -- will regard it with much the same mixture of dread and terror . It 's Thomas ' 17th birthday . Mom and Dad have recklessly elected to take off for the weekend . Sure , they know he 'll probably have friends over , but they trust him to use his common sense , and anyway , he does n't have that many friends . But they reckon without the influence of his determined buddy Costa , who puts all his considerable social networking skills to promoting what turns out to be the ultimate house party . Beer will be chugged , tequila slammed , pills popped ( cherries too ) , furnishings trashed , cars crashed , there will be fire , SWAT teams and loud noise late into the night . Oh yes , my friends , the peace will be disturbed ! There 's nothing new about any of this -- the wild party is firmly entrenched in youths ' rites of passage in the movies and in high school lore across the land . In my day , it was Tom Cruise turning his home into a brothel and getting on the wrong side of Guido the Killer Pimp . Now , it 's Thomas Mann orchestrating a rave in his backyard and stupidly ripping off a frazzled drug dealer by the name of T-Rick . ( Kids , if you take away just one lesson from this movie , let it be this : There 's no percentage in ripping off your dealer . ) Still , it seems to me Cruise was at least respectful of those working girls . To Thomas and the gangsta-mouthed Costa ( Oliver Cooper ) , even their classmates are `` hos '' and `` b*tches . '' If this movie has it right , today 's teen culture is about what you would expect from a demographic brainwashed on a junk media diet of rap , pornography and reality TV . Please note , I said `` If . '' `` Superbad '' seems almost quaint in comparison -- and a whole lot funnier , in my opinion . Not that there 's any point in sermonizing about such a self-consciously anarchic celebration of adolescent hedonism . There 's not much to it , but at least there 's a trace of punk rebellion in the orgy of destruction visited on a comfortably middle-class suburban home -- even if the coda dubiously suggests that this could be the shortcut to social status and parental respect . Yeah , as my kid would say , right . Directed by newcomer Nima Nourizadeh from what must have been a stick-thin screenplay , `` Project X '' loses more than it gains from the `` videography '' gambit . It is indifferently acted and in too much of a rush for quick hits to establish anything like the lull and swell of a real rave -- there 's no undertow , no rapture , just a randomized string of highs and lows . Even the hangover is shortchanged ( despite a producer credit for `` Hangover '' director Todd Phillips ) . That 's not to say there are n't at least a few outrageous gags , YouTube moments to share , but mostly this looks like exactly what it is : a wasted opportunity .
- Tom Charity : ` ` Project X '' loses more than it gains from the ` ` videography '' ' . There 's nothing new here -- the wild party is ingrained in youths ' rites of passage , he says . ` ` Project X '' was directed by newcomer Nima Nourizadeh .