We Are Your Friends stars Zac Efron, Wes Bentley, and Emily Ratajkowski. It has EDM and plenty of drama. Let us see how it fares on the different parameters. Although, on the story front, We Are Your Friends doesn’t disappoint, the dialogues aren’t exactly something you’d want to write home about. For a movie based on music, it’s sadly lacking that killer punch, and the same goes for visuals. Acting is something of a saving grace for We Are Your Friends. In fact, story and acting are perhaps its two greatest redeemers.
| Overall: |  (2.8 / 5) |
| Story: |  (3.0 / 5) |
| Acting: |  (2.5 / 5) |
| Music: | (2.5 / 5) |
| Dialogue: |  (2.0 / 5) |
| Visuals: | (2.5 / 5) |
Although We Are Your Friends promises much, it delivers little. Zac Efron djing in this movie is more than satisfying. His character, Cole, is pretty likable too. Also, Wes Bentley is more than passable in a crucial role, and Emily Ratajkowski is above average. The other cast is a bit of a letdown, though.
There is not much by the way of good EDM, which is disappointing. The story is, loosely, about Cole finding his creative side by not going the way others go. We Are Your Friends does have its bright moments, and for this it is worth a one time watch.
Cole meeting Wes’s character and falling for his assistant, only to be eventually found out by him, and then the tumultuous events that ensue, all make for a fairly good story. If only the buddies of Zac’s character were a little more interesting and their relationship with Cole more compelling, it would have done the film a whole lot of good.
The dialogues are not up to the mark, though. There isn’t much here, except for maybe some from Zac and particularly Wes. Scenes with them together are the high points of We Are Your Friends. Emily is equally good, if not better, in some of the scenes where the trio makes their appearance. Take them out and there isn’t much by the way of acting left for the entire duration of the movie.
At times, as an audience, you will wonder why the director didn’t pay greater heed to build a better rapport between Zac’s character and his on-screen buddies. If that aspect of the movie had been addressed, the overall outcome could have been far better.
A film about music can surely have better visuals than what is on display here. Even though this is not bad, it is far from good. You will surely feel that there could have been more music in the movie, and also, perhaps, the visuals should have been a bit better.
Mostly, we are left wondering at the missed opportunities rather than the good work that we see. There are not many who will go into this movie with the intention of listening to EDM. Perhaps watching Emily on the big screen would be a big incentive to see this film. They will come away surprised that besides having a great body, she can act as well.
Overall, these bunch of wannabes from the San Fernando Valley manage to hold the viewers attention for the duration of the movie, but if they wanted to leave any kind of impact on the minds of the audience, it doesn’t quite come off.
What do you think?