The movie “We Are Your Friends,” directed by Max Joseph, captivates the audience with its infectious DJ music, but also had a few red flags in between the beats.
The story begins when 23-year-old Cole Carter (Zac Efron), an aspiring DJ who dreams of becoming a record producer, starts playing at a club named Social, which is promoted by his friends Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez), Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) and Dustin (Jonny Weston).
During a party, Carter meets James (Wes Bentley), a recording artist and DJ, who invites him to his own party. The two begin to learn more about each others music and after hearing Carter’s tracks, James decides to hire him to play his parties. This allows Carter to find the right track he has been looking for his whole life.
Once he starts working for James, Carter falls for Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski), James’ girlfriend and assistant. After this, he finds himself faced with the decision between his career, his love life and his friends.
Four other DJ’s make cameo appearances in the movie. Nicky Romero, Dillon Francis, Alesso and Them Jeans all have some on-screen moments.
The first problem with the movie is that the beginning is slow and dull. The acting lacked any sort of emotion or excitement and there was not enough dialogue between characters.
The other red flag while watching was the storyline was remotely similar to Efron’s previous movie, “That Awkward Moment.” Basically, the film was about a group of men in their twenties who are trying to be more mature and do something more useful and beneficial with their lives.
Once more of the DJ music started playing, the movie got more interesting. Efron’s infectious beats were entertaining to the audience.
One memorable scene in the movie that embodied the DJ culture was when Carter played the song “Desire” by Years and Years at James’ party. The music really drove the movie.
The drama began to increase when Carter started to take interest in Sophie. The “Neighbors” star’s character gets more interesting when he starts a love triangle while the characters are in Vegas.
Efron’s performance in this movie did not exactly meet the expectations that people were hoping for. There may have been plenty of drama, but his acting was lukewarm.
There was one scene that redeemed Efron’s acting. This was after his friend, Squirrel, dies at a party. The scene when he sees his friends body on the floor was an emotional climax and during that scene Efron displayed believable acting.
Other than that, the acting in the movie in general went from being dull to neutral. The stars did not show enough passion or emotion in most of the scenes.
All in all, the music was the highlight of the entire movie. If someone were to choose between buying the soundtrack and seeing the movie, go with the soundtrack.
