We Are Your Friends premiered in the U.S. on August 28th to a decent amount of fanfare. However, it's been pretty downhill since there. The movie grossed less than $2 million on its opening weekend, placing it at #14 at the box office. It also received a 42% score from Rotten Tomatoes and 46% from Metacritic. Other critics have been more favorable, but it is quite easy to label this movie as a flop. So what went wrong? Quite honestly, a lot went wrong.
For starters, the plot of the movie did not help anyone. The basic story revolves around Zac Efron's character, Cole Carter, an aspiring DJ. He and his friends dream of living the big life and when Carter begins working under the tutelage of famous DJ James Reed (played by Wes Bentley), it looks like those dreams will come true. There is nothing original about this plot, except for the DJ part. EDM music is pretty popular now, and a good EDM movie could have been really big. Unfortunately, the EDM part of this movie makes it seem more like a documentary more than anything. The rest of the plot is unoriginal and downright boring at times. All of the usual cliches about music and mentoring can be found here.
Two of the biggest problems with the movie are its characters and acting. Efron has never been a great actor, but he's definitely had better performances. Emily Ratajkowski, who plays Efron's love interest, gives the worst performance of the movie. The chemistry between the two is okay (nothing great) but Ratajkowski's performance is incredibly plain and bland. She seemingly has two facial expressions and is unable to deliver in big moments. Bentley gives the best performance of the movie, but it is nothing special. As for the characters, the only really interesting one is Reed, who has issues with alcohol. The movie tries to get the viewers to develop bonds with a number of characters, especially with Ratajkowski's character Sophie and Squirrel, one of Efron's friends who is played by Alex Shaffer. Had the movie successfully been able to get the audience to sympathize with those two characters, this movie could have been a lot better (see Step Up). But by failing to do so, the audience is simply apathetic towards them. A lot of fault can be found with Cole Carter as well. It seems like Zac Efron used this movie to completely shake off his clean-cut Disney image. As a result, his character smokes weed way too much and completely absorbs the party lifestyle. In fact, a lot of the stuff that gave the movie an R-Rating (like the nudity and profanity) seems forced and unnecessary.
Directing the movie is Max Joseph, most famous for Catfish. How being the cameraman and co-host of that show enabled him to direct this one is beyond me. As mentioned before, a lot of stuff in this movie seems totally out-of-context and irrelevant to what is happening. It totally confuses the audience and in some cases, bores them.
As bad as the movie was, it did have its positives. It has some genuinely funny moments, the chemistry between Bentley and Efron is good, and the last song is really good. However, the movie as a whole is nothing but a flop. The run time of 96 minutes is far too long and the movie is genuinely unwatchable at times. In the end, the true test of a movie is whether it entertains the audience, and this one, does not.
