Project X

Project X is a 1987 American film about Jimmy, a young Air Force pilot trainee who is reassigned after an infraction and sent to a base where chimpanzees are being trained on flight simulators as part of a secret government program. Assigned to care for the animals, Jimmy grows attached to them, especially a chimpanzee named Virgil who has been taught sign language by researcher Teri. As he learns more about the experiments, Jimmy comes to suspect that the project has a darker purpose than he was told, and he and Teri work together to protect the chimps.

Jonathan Kaplan directed the film, which sits between Over the Edge (1979) and The Accused (1988) in his filmography. The screenplay is by Lawrence Lasker and Stanley Weiser, and Lasker produced with Walter F. Parkes. Matthew Broderick plays Jimmy and Helen Hunt plays Teri, with William Sadler, Johnny Ray McGhee and Jonathan Stark in supporting roles; the chimpanzee Virgil is credited as himself. The film was made for a budget of 18 million USD and took about 19 million USD at the worldwide box office. On IMDb it holds a rating of 6.2 out of 10 from around 13,000 votes, and on TMDB a rating of 6.2 out of 10 from 291 votes. A critics' rating of 5.9 out of 10 from 19 reviews places it close to the audience scores.