We Are Your Friends

I have friends who like to DJ. They obviously don't see becoming a DJ as important as Zac Efron's character does in this movie but if they did, I think I'd want to punch them in the face.

We Are Your Friends follows the story of a young up and coming DJ named Cole Carter (played by Zac Efron). He lives in the San Fernando Valley of California and he has a dream with a group of his friends from high school to go off and be something important. To Cole, that means being a world famous DJ and making music for people.

Right off the bat I'll say, his friends are the absolute worst.

These are the kids from your high school that you just hated. Especially his friend Dustin (played by Jonny Weston, the bald one) who is actually the one I think Zac Efron's character is closest to. This group of guys is the over the top partiers and just end up ruining those parties.  Cole at one point even says that they need to behave at a party they go to and they end up ruining it.

They make their living off of promoting a club where Cole DJs at and they're getting by. Its nothing to be proud of, but they get by.

Until one night, Cole encounters a famous but older DJ by the name of James Reed (played by Wes Bentley) and the two become friends. Reed becomes somewhat of a mentor for Cole and he starts to learn exactly what it means to be a successful DJ. Of course he spends a lot of time with James and his friends start to get jealous... sort of.

Of course at the same time, Cole is introduced to James's girlfriend, Sophie (played by Emily Ratajkowski) and of course Cole is smitten with her from the start so you know that's gonna come into play later.

First thing I'll say is, the three characters you actually care about are in the picture to the right and honestly, this movie should have been called, We Are In a Love Triangle because that was the more important and interesting part of this movie. I liked these three characters and I cared a whole hell of a lot more about what happened to them than what happened to Zac Efron and his friends.

And yeah, a lot of it is pretty cliche. If you've watched any movie like this before, you'll know exactly what happens in a situation like this. Zac Efron's friends get jealous and he has to figure out the cost of pursuing fame and fortune. On top of that, you've got a very attractive male lead and a very attractive female lead who just so happens to be the girlfriend of a still attractive but not as attractive guy who's a little bit of an asshole? What do you think is going to happen? So yeah, a lot of it is pretty predictable and what you think is going to happen does happen.

Knowing that the movie is predictable, you have to ask yourself if you're interested in a movie about DJing.

I have to give the movie credit, it does delve into a subject matter that, going into it, I really wasn't that interested in. And to be honest, I'm still not very interested in DJs or that kind of stuff. But I thought the angle that they were going with in this movie worked and made at least a sort of interesting story.

I can't say that I would have watched this movie by my own volition if I hadn't been watching it with someone else, but after watching it, I don't think I wasted my time.

A part of that is the performances. And probably the most important performance I was looking at was that of Zac Efron.

While it has not been by choice, I have see the career of Zac Efron since the beginning. And yeah, I still see him as Troy from High School Musical. But a part of me wants to see him break from that role and really make a name for himself so down the road, he'll be known for his good performances, and High School Musical will just be a funny thing we look back on.

That being said, he's still just the pretty boy in this movie. He gives a decent performance and I do become at least a little bit invested in his story, but its nothing to write home to. I think he's doing a better job at making a name for himself in comedies like Neighbors than he is making a name for himself as a serious actor. But hey, maybe he'll be able to shred the stereotype as a pretty boy sooner or later... but for now he still has it.

Then you've got Wes Bentley. Now I'm not actually a huge fan of Bentley. Nothing of his work has really pegged him as a really good actor. But this movie might be the closest thing to making me interested in seeking out his work and seeing what he can do.

Again, the movie is a little bit more interested in casting pretty looking people regardless of their acting ability. But I think that Bentley was probably one of the better parts of the movie and I was interested in his character. He's basically this washed out has been who does have enough talent to pass onto Cole, but at the same time he's very much living in the past and doesn't have the name he used to have. He's an alcoholic, he does a lot of drugs, but you still want him to teach Cole everything he knows so you have a successful protagonist. Luckily that goes back onto Zac Efron, but I think these two were written very well and I think they work well together.

And on top of that he has an incredibly smoking hot girlfriend...

Like... DAYUM

Now I don't like just pointing out that women in movies are attractive but you do have to point out the obvious that Emily Ratajkowski is just an amazingly beautiful woman. And the funny part is, if you look into her career, she's not afraid to flaunt it. You remember the whole controversy about Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke and the music video with the naked women? Yeah, that's her.

And I wouldn't be making a huge deal out of this if that wasn't what she was in this movie.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, it depends on how you want to look at it) Ratajkowski is very much the sex object of this movie. They have a little bit of a character mapped out in that her character went to school but dropped out and became the personal secretary for Reed, but a lot of that is pushed off to the wayside when you have her in a low cut shirt dancing to techno music and being the object of a tug of war between Zac Efron and Wes Bentley.

And the thing is, Ratajkowski is not actually that horrible of an actress. I don't think we got enough in this movie to really show one way or another but I think if she was written better, Sophie could have actually been an interesting character. But instead she's just kind of the object for viewers like me to say DAYUM to...

And yeah, the romance in this movie is just like every single other romance that you've seen in a movie like this. They go through the motions you've seen before. There's the will they won't they feeling for a little bit until they do. Then something causes a rift and there's a lull of sadness until they finally get back together and everyone is happy in the end.

And that's another thing about this movie. It really kind of wraps up a little bit too perfectly.

I've already given too much away to tell you exactly how things go down but I will say that everything really kind of wraps up in a perfect little bow and the ending is a little bit rushed. In fact, there's like two conversations that happen and all the problems that happened in the past seem like they go away very quickly.

For a movie that is very focused for a good portion of it on kind of kicking these young people in the pants and saying that their not going to amount to the dreams that they have in the beginning, a lot of things just happen to fall into their laps at the end and it all comes together a little bit too perfectly.

Last minute things to talk about. His friends are the worst. Both on how they're written and how their acted. I didn't like his friends, I think their roles should have been drastically reduced and the title of the movie should have been switched to something else.

My man Jon Bernthal is in this movie and of course he's the guy you just sort of love to hate. Of course, I would have liked to see more of him in this movie, but his character isn't that important to the story. I just wanted to make mention of him.

And then the last thing to talk about with this film is the style.

Its hard for me to put into words what the style of this movie is. Mainly because I can't usually put into words the different styles of any movies. I just recognize it when I see it. For example, I know the style of a Wes Anderson movie is going to be quirky and somewhat animated. I usually just say that a movie has a little bit of a Wes Anderson feel to it. That's a very broad term for me. I wish I could tell you a really broad term to explain the style of this movie but I can't. All I will say is that it makes a lot of interesting choices, but they are inconsistent. Half of the time the movie is a pretty standard style of movie where everyone is filmed in a pretty generic way.

But then you have these really cool scenes with certain cuts and uses of color. For example: There's a scene where Zac Efron takes PCP and everyone suddenly becomes animated. Its a cool scene, especially since he's on drugs. But the weird style of the movie shows up here and there and then it doesn't show up again. This isn't necessarily knocking the movie for this, you're just going to have moments in the movie that are different from your generic style of film. I can't really say that its something good that sets the movie apart because its so inconsistent that its not even something worth mentioning until the end of the review. I think they should have taken some risks if they wanted this movie to stand out and one of the ways they could have done that was with the style that they brought up sometimes, but left alone other times.

But overall, We Are Your Friends is a decent movie. Its not great, its not bad, its just there. I think you have some good performances and it actually kind of made me interested in the world of DJing, at least for the 90 minute run time, but overall, its nothing to write home to. If you're a fan of DJing, Wes Bentley or Zac Efron, I think you might enjoy this film. Otherwise, check it out if its free, but don't go out and buy this movie by any means.

But those are my thoughts on We Are Your Friends. What did you think? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @cmhaugen24 as well as send me your requests for movies I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

I'll leave you with this. Its been a while since I've put on a clip from Jimmy Fallon, those are always fun. Here's Zac Efron playing the card game War, with water being thrown in his face. Enjoy!