We Are Your Friends

I was expecting to detest this movie, and I'm happy to say that I found some enjoyment in We Are Your Friends. I'm not too big on EDM; I love some of it, dislike most of it, but this movie actually painted the genre/scene in an interesting light. They add a human element to the otherwise processed and compressed music, and it's pretty captivating. At least those scenes are. Where the movie fails can be attributed to its title. We Are Your Friends shouldn't have been about friendship or having each others backs or whatever they were trying to go for because that is by far the weakest element of the movie. Zac Efron is great in the lead role, but his friends are complete throwaway characters. I didn't care about any of them. There is one scene near the end where the friend arc almost pays off, but even then it's not worth all the wasted minutes building up these characters when there's a far more interesting story that's going to waste.

The story I'm referring to involves Wes Bentley's character James who is a washed up DJ that kind of fell from grace and is now living off royalty checks and he ends up being the person who teaches Cole (Efron) how to make electronic music effective. I really enjoyed Bentley in this role. In fact, the whole trifecta of Efron, Bentley, and Emily Ratajkowski is what made the movie watchable. Bentley being the mentor character who is fighting a lot of inner demons, Efron being the ambitious musician who is hungry for his big break, and Ratajkowski showing off her acting talent as the assistant/girlfriend to Bentley's character who ends up falling for Efron. Even though it sounds like a cliché love triangle, for some reason it works. There's tension between these characters - you care about the friendship between James and Cole, but you also recognize their faults and why Emily's character is torn in her position. They make for some pretty powerful scenes.

But again, this potential is muddled underneath a bunch of Hollywood crap. There's a throwaway plot about the gang working for a real estate agency, there's an attempt at a moral to being true to yourself in order to make it big, there is just a bunch of predictable nonsense that clutters this film which is a shame. Believe me, I was not expecting to have any nice things to say about We Are Your Friends, but there is definitely something here. The fact is that the goodness in the movie is a diamond in the rough, and sadly, this diamond isn't worth all the rough.

A good, fresh movie, obviously geared towards younger generations with a mostly unknown cast and more than competent direction. There are some great sequences in here, with great visuals and graphics, very visually appealing and even informative.

The storyline admittedly is very predictable, and the script is nothing out of this world, however it's fun and realistic, and you feel as though you really meet these characters. What it misses is focus, as the story has 2 different storylines, the one about Cole as a DJ being much stronger, and maybe it would have profited for cutting down on the scenes with friends. Although there are some gems there, it's been done many times before and the ending of that storyline is very predictable.

Now although this was never going to get any Oscars, it's still a good and entertaining tale of coming of age tale, and what it lacks in originality, it makes up for with a great soundtrack and pure heart coupled with a great performance by Efron.

P.S. The quotes from the movie might be laughable to some, but as a late stage millennial, I feel that quotes like "are we ever gonna be better than this?" and "This is the best part. The best part of anything really. It's the moment before it starts." are as real and contemporary as they get

EDM Music has become a crazy world of drugs, sex and bass drops. Being an avid fan of this genre well before it become a trendy thing to do, I have definitely been a bit disheartened by how kids treat the scene these days. Instead of the focus being on the music, its on being half naked, rolling on E and hooking up with anything with a pulse (that last part is probably optional). This movie shows all of that (of course) but the focus is on doing something MORE with your life. Its about moving people, being memorable and creating from the heart.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this movie. I smiled and laughed pretty much the entire time. It was quite funny, poking a bit at how ridiculous this "culture" has become but remained true to the spirit of the music. Zac Efron did a really good job at portraying a DJ who really IS all about creating music. All of his "friends" were accurately portrayed because we ALL have that douchey friend, that clueless friend and we know that guy that's just kinda there, hanging out. Wes Bentley was superb as the alcoholic has-been DJ (but come on, its Wes Bentley. He's superb at everything he does). The scenery was spot-on and exciting, taking you on multiple roller-coaster rides of cartoon drug trips, wild dance parties and of course, sexy time. And can I just say, as a women, how much I enjoyed gazing upon Emily Ratajkowski and her glorious boobs?! WHEW!

You must take this movie for what it is. You should probably be a fan of EDM music (or at least music in general) to really enjoy this movie. The screening I was at was full of a much older crowd who seemed genuinely confused. "I thought this was a movie about friendship?" Well, it IS. In a crazy world of drugs, sex and bass drops.

I feel those expecting some mega existential change your life material out of movies miss out on the finer points.

Sure, there will be plenty of young people thinking this is a 'party' movie, and Zac Ephron followers will flock to the cinema to see him.

Those of us who actually enjoy story telling will be OK with this flick. Sure it wasn't heavy with mystery or intrigue, its a coming of age story of 4 friends trying to live out their dreams. Who doesn't have a story like that. Its about growing past those dreams, building new ones and dealing with the repercussions of the changes in life we make....some times which are thrust upon us.

The music is what I liked about this movie. Its not unlike other music related movies where an epiphany occurs for the lead character which makes all the difference in the world.

For an easy going movie this was worth the cheap night tickets I bought.

"Are we ever gonna be better than this?!" Cole (Efron) is a DJ trying to make it big, all he needs is "that one track". When he meets James (Bently) a DJ that is willing to mentor him he thinks he finally found what he wants. Cole soon finds out that trying meet the expectations of his friends, hiding his romantic feelings, and working on his music isn't as easy as he was hoping for. I was really not looking forward to this at all. I'm not a big Zac Efron fan, nor am I a fan of this type of house music. That being said, I actually liked this more than I expected to. The movie is a little generic and nothing all that special, but there was just something about it that kept me watching and entertained. Efron actually does a pretty good job of portraying what the character is thinking when he is not speaking and only working his board. This is not an amazing movie and won't win any awards but I actually liked this much more than I was expecting to. If you are into this type of sound you will probably like it much more than I did, if you aren't you still may enjoy this like I did. Overall, a surprise of a movie that I liked more than I expected to. I surprisingly give this a B.