“We Are Your Friends” star Zac Efron has called his latest film the “Saturday Night Fever” of this generation. But instead of a white jumpsuit and disco, Efron sports headphones and blares techno music as a DJ looking to make it big.
Efron’s Cole Carter is part of a four friend posse. They live in California’s San Fernando Valley – on the backside of the Hollywood hills. All four of are struggling to make money and desperately want to become successful. Cole meets superstar DJ James Reed (played by Wes Bentley – Seneca Crane in “The Hunger Games”), and Reed instantly takes Cole under his wing, vowing to help Cole perfect a signature track that could send him on his way to the top.
A lot more happens in “We Are Your Friends”, mostly involving the four friends and some enemies and friends who become enemies. A love triangle emerges, as Cole begins to take an interest in James‘ assistant and sort-of girlfriend Sophie (played by Emily Ratajkowski). But it’s the music that controls this movie, as the loud and relentless techno-pop soundtrack dominates most scenes, including numerous montages featuring predominately girls at parties and clubs dancing in slow-motion.
And yet, even with all this beat, “We Are Your Friends” has very little energy. In one distracting segment, Cole takes you completely out of the moment with graphics, charts and narration about the science of dance music, explaining, in detail, how 128 heartbeats per minute is the perfect way to get people moving. Unfortunately, this script kept me at a steady 60 heartbeats per minute for the entire film.
Efron’s Cole is in a complete daze from start to finish, even in a couple of fight scenes, and his buddies are pure stereotypes. Jon Bernthal (from “The Wolf of Wall Street”) does have a solid supporting role as a shady real estate tycoon. “We Are Your Friends” provides a little insight into this end of the music industry and avoids (for the most part) a “Happily Ever After” ending. It tries to set itself apart from other “finding yourself in Hollywood” stories that also feature conflict and romance, but all good efforts are erased by the cornball finale.
“Saturday Night Fever”? – No. “Tuesday Night – Very Mild Temperature” is more like it. On The Official LCJ Report Card, “We Are Your Friends” gets a D+.
Running Time: 96 min.