We Are Your Friends (2015)

Review:

A film that bears great similarity to a prolonged dance music video – all style, no substance.

A directorial debut for Max Joseph and starring teenybopper heartthrob Zac Efron as the main character Cole, We Are Your Friends is the tale of an aspiring Hollywood Electronic Dance Music DJ, embroiled in love, friendship and work dramas – all the usual clichéd situations of your average three-act movie. Cole, along with his three friends, progresses from putting on party nights to attract “bitches”, to befriending a troubled, worn out mentor called James (Wes Bentley) in order to become a successful DJ in his own right. Oh and also he falls in love with his mentor’s girlfriend Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski) on the journey.

The first issue (of many) I have with this film is the story’s lack of credulity. Dialogue was forced and lacked any depth – even during an emotional incident in the final act. In order to distract from this, we are presented with a great number of beautiful scenic shots with Zac Efron looking mean, moody and supposedly thoughtful, but even this couldn’t provide much profundity to the film. The repetition of these shots just ended up adding to the tedium of We Are Your Friends.

Whilst Mr. Efron’s natural charm and charisma are by far the strongest aspect of the film, it’s still a push to like him as Cole, or, in fact, any of the film’s characters. We’re basically delivered the typical dish of a load of males living out their bromance sessions during a quest to become successful for money, drugs, girls and more girls. Ratajkowski’s Sophie, pretty much the only speaking female in the film, was said to be extremely skilled and intelligent, but her whole life seemed to revolve around what either one of her male love interests were doing – or what they required. We see her afforded some agency and independence in the last few minutes of the film, but, as is usual in such fare, it’s a case of too little, too late.

There were some vaguely interesting aspects in We Are Your Friends of how DJs work and the intricacies of how Electronic Dance Music is created and subsequently performed. However, this isn’t built on throughout the film and is utterly undermined by long, lingering close-ups on jiggling parts of the female anatomy. If these are the kind of people who are our friends, I think we’re better off alone.