We Are Your Friends Review

The beats are all there, and no, I'm not referring to the music. This is a typical coming of age story, not one in the vein of a film like Boyhood where we are watching a transition due to age but rather one of maturity and opening ones eyes to what matters in this world. Cole Carter (Zac Efron) is 23 years old and spends his time hanging with friends and taking any gig he can, hoping his music will get noticed. He just needs that one hot track that will intoxicate the ears of every person in the area, that one song that will put him on the map. 

Everyone dreams of a door to success opening in an almost miraculous way, and that happens with Cole when he runs into James Reed (Wes Bentley), a DJ who has already found his fame and is willing to take a young man with promise under his wing. Cole finally has his chance to leave his mark on the music industry, until predictably things get complicated thanks to a beautiful girl. 

Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski) was standing in the club one night and Cole spotted her from across the room. He couldn't look away. Gorgeous. Unfortunately she is also dating his new mentor. He falls in love but by doing so he risks the new opportunity he lucked into thanks to a friendship. 

We Are Your Friends is reasonably entertaining and oozes a palpable energy that makes it impossible to lose interest, but frankly it's painfully predictable and familiar, tripping over every trope you could imagine along the way to the conclusion we all knew was coming. We know it won't always be smooth with his friends. It isn't. We know James will find out about Cole and Sophie. He does. We know how the love story will end and we know whether or not he will eventually write that one sexy track. It's been done before and to death, albeit sometimes featuring slightly less aesthetically pleasing characters.

The film is directed by Max Joseph, making his fictional feature length debut here, and it wouldn't be fair of me to shit all over the story without also giving the movie credit for packing a stylish visual punch. While the arc of the characters and their emotional plights and slight to say the least, I have no doubts that if Joseph were relegated to solely the directors chair and given a strong screenplay to work with, I bet it could result in a hell of a film. Unfortunately with the box office failings of this picture, something tells me his gig as the co-host of the television series Catfish will be his focal point for some time going forward.

If you enjoy watching beautiful people framed by a director who knows how to film them, We Are Your Friends is more than good enough to be a pleasing 90 minute experience. I would sum up my overall thoughts on this one with yeah...I kinda liked it. Just don't go in looking for anything fresh or challenging, because we have all been down this road before and it's not all that exciting. 

3/5