‘We Are Your Friends’ is strictly for Zac fans
– FILM REVIEW By Cate Marquis –
“We Are Your Friends” is a music-filled tale about an aspiring DJ and his friends in Los Angeles’ suburban San Fernando Valley. While fans of star Zac Efron, who plays the DJ, will get plenty of eye-candy and a good share of pulse-pounding house and techno music, the film follows a familiar plot with little in the way of character development or surprises.
Four friends in their early twenties – Cole (Zac Efron), Mason (Jonny Weston), Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez) and Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) – have dreams of success but not much of a plan. They grew up together and still live the flat, suburban San Fernando Valley just beyond Hollywood’s hills. Mason dreams of becoming an actor but most of the friends’ time is spent trying to help launch Cole’s career as DJ, spending their spare time looking for gigs opening for better known DJs and promoting the event to maximize their take at the door. An accidental meeting with successful DJ James Reed (Wes Bentley) opens a door for Cole but things could be complicated by Cole’s attraction to Reed’s younger girlfriend/personal assistant Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski).
While “We Are Your Friends” starts out by creating a sense of place in the San Fernando Valley and does sketch out the friends as characters, the film then does little after that with either character development or building much of a story around the location. Nor does the film really do much to take us into the world of electronic dance music. Instead, the movie follows a familiar path, with Efron’s wannabee-star character being taken under the wing of a successful DJ on the decline. The film’s efforts to amplify the star quality of DJs or build up the level of artistic talent needed seems rather forced and not quite believable. The older star and young protege plot line is a movie standard, and is only complicated by their mutual attraction to Sophie. Cole’s buddies remain two-dimensional characters, even when the friends take day jobs working for a company exploiting homeowners facing foreclosure.
The film has plenty of dance party scenes, sprinkled with an entertaining little animated explanation of how DJs get the crowd dancing, but mostly the film is just an excuse for lots of shots of handsome Zac and some electronic music. Wes Bentley does a serviceable job as James, who is sinking into alcoholism, but none of the cast are really called on to do much acting, as the film continues its march to the inevitable big party finale.
Dedicated Zac Efron fans might feel compelled to see “We Are Your Friends” (although it is not his best film) and dance music fans likely will find it fun, but this very light bit of entertainment is hardly must-see and but for anyone else, it might be better to save your money and give this one a pass.
© Cate Marquis
