We Are Your Friends
WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS
By Hiram Trillo
Be a real friend, don’t pay at the door and say you’re with the DJ. An ode to the San Fernando Valley…
Trying to visualize the seductive world of EDM (Electronic Dance Music) is tempting and has been attempted before, first-time film director Max Joseph (MTv’s Catfish) gives it a good shot but misses the beat.
Struggling DJ Cole Carter (Zac Efron) from the Valley believes that all that is needed is a laptop, talent, and one killer track. Cole, a local aspiring musician from California’s San Fernando Valley (which you get an extensive Google map tour of) is never really given a back-story for and becomes hard to develop a real sense of care for his character. He supports himself by doing odd jobs with his high school friends Mason (Johnny Weston), aspiring film star Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez) and nerdy character Squirrel played by Alex Shaffer. Ollie is a low-level drug dealer that convinces his friends to go work for Paige (Jon Bernthal), who runs a mortgage company that cheats people down on their luck out of their homes. This part of the story is a poor attempt at giving it a serious side, shades of Boiler room and The Wolf of Wall Street mash up. At one of Cole’s gigs he runs into glorified DJ James Reed (Wes Bentley) who is impressed by Cole and ends up introducing him to the right people and PCP. One of the most entertaining scenes in the film is when Reed takes Cole to an after party at an art gallery where the paintings come to life. It begins with very subtle movements of the expensive painting however it ends up taking a trippy trip where the painting and partiers merge together ending up looking like a colorful A-Ha “Take on Me” video.
In another yet twist to the story Cole ends up falling for James girlfriend/personal assistant/arm candy Sophie, played by Emily Ratajkowski (Blurred Lines). After exchanging thoughts about Reed, Sophie and Cole spend a lustful night in Vegas together. The love interest between the two is poor attempt at giving the weak script a relatable romantic feel. In the end Reed finds out about their night together and the friendship with in the three is dissolved only to be brought back by Cole’s enlighten sense of creating his ultimate track.
We are your friends is a predictable, puzzle filled story where the viewer should not make an attempt at over thinking it. It does have some clever educational situations where you even the non-EDM listeners will learn about bass drop and beats per minute of the music genre. However this film lacks heart, story, and acting power and is filled with camera movement, biology class tutorials, and comedic one liners making it feel like an MTV reality show if MTV still played music.
4 out of 10
