FilmSnobReviews

Title: We Are Your Friends
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Max Joseph
Starring: Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski, Wes Bentley
Runtime: 1 hr 36 mins
What It Is: Cole Carter (Efron) has ambitions of making it as a DJ. He wants to get out of California’s San Fernando Valley and become rich and famous. When he meets an older, much more jaded DJ in James (Bentley) and his girlfriend?/assistant Sophie (Ratajkowski) things might be looking up. As Cole starts to prep for Summerfest, and perhaps his most important set ever. As that day nears Cole learns some valuable lessons as he grows, and falls in love under the electric sky.

What We Think: You know I’d heard all the terrible things about this film, and I am not a fan of electronic music so bear with me. This isn’t the worst thing I’ve seen all year. It’s grossly misguided attempts to make us care for the unforgivably annoying group of people we follow are lame. This film really has a flare for interesting filmmaking. Director Max Joseph really wants to do some cool stuff but does not pull the trigger on any of it enough times. Efron isn’t bad, Bentley seems super bored, and Ratajkowski just doesn’t have the polish yet as an actress. Cole’s friends were by and largely believable outside of  Jonny Weston’s Mason who was an unreal caricature of typically meat head friend.

Our Grade: C-, I dislike the music, I disliked the characters not played by Zac Efron and the director coward at the project. As a first time director, that’s when you want to take chances. Think back to last years God Help the Girl which saw a musician direct a feature film that was pretty good, and took a ton of chances. I’ll recommend this tentatively, especially to all you folks with an affinity for EDM music. Shout out to the segments shot here in my current hometown of Las Vegas.