is it possible that, as bad as horror had it in 2012, comedy had it worse? i won't say that, because at least there were a sizable number of comedic films that worked. that being said, from here on out its all would-be laughers. the found footage genre had mostly been used for horror up to 2012, where it decided to branch out a bit. one of the films that tried to do something new with the format was project x, which was produced by todd phillips of the hangover fame. the story goes that the title of the film was a placeholder, but once people came to know it by that title the filmmakers just decided to keep it. pretty much every aspect of this film got the same level of attention as that title, as matt drake and michael bacall provide a script which skimps on characterization and instead focuses on how crazy a party can be. along the way, the duo forgot to make any single character remotely likable. there have been many unsympathetic characters in the found footage format; let's face it, the subgenre is littered with them. but few are as abjectly hatable as costa, played with enraging levels of annoyance by oliver cooper. the other two members of this trio, thomas (thomas mann) and j.b. (jonathan daniel brown) are equally unsympathetic. there is no real plot here; there is simply a series of increasingly-insane moments that climax with a drug dealer armed with a flamethrower laying waste to the neighborhood while swat teams move in. and yet somehow, the whole thing has a happy ending. this is an insulting and aggravating assault on audience's senses masquerading as a comedy; i hated every second of it.