We Are Your Friends Review | Road Rash Reviews

4 stars for this up to the minute party-packed film.

We Are Your Friends is written and directed by Max Joseph and is his pretty impressive directorial feature debut.

It is set in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, allegedly the home of the best sushi in the Western hemisphere.

It tells the story of four friends who have grown up together and are now each trying to make their way in the world. Cole Carter (Zac Efron – High School Musical, That Awkward Moment) is an aspiring DJ, living in the pool house owned by the parents of his friend Mason (Jonny Weston – Insurgent, John Dies at the End), who is a fairly successful drug dealer.

Completing the dynamic bunch are Squirrel (Alex Shaffer – Win Win, Lifeguard) young but enthusiastic and Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez – Evil Dead, Return To Sender), who works as a promoter on Thursdays at Social, the local nightclub and sometimes gets Cole the opportunity to DJ there.

It is apparent however that this is not going to pay the bills and in the end the four are forced to accept jobs in real estate, generously offered by their friend Paige (Jon Bernthal – Fury, The Wolf Of Wall Street). This is not ideal for any of them, but at least they’re bringing in some cash.

All that could be about to change. One Thursday night at the club while DJing Cole goes outside for a smoke and a chance encounter with established and well known DJ James Reed (Wes Bentley – Interstellar, The Hunger Games) leads to a potential opportunity to further his dream when he offers to take him under his wing.

Now he must learn to juggle all the various aspects of his life and to deal with the growing feelings he has for James’ girlfriend Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski – Entourage, Gone Girl), which threaten to jeopardise his one shot at making a good career.

We Are Your Friends is a very enjoyable film, colourful and full of party vibes, the perfect antidote to the January weather. The acting is pretty good, as is the script and the story is quite clever and well thought out. There are plenty of highs to be had, but neatly balanced out by the low moments, which add more joy to the good stuff.

It also has some interesting features, some of the effects when Cole is taking PCP are amazing and I liked the way that some of the sentences are actually displayed on the screen to make them a visual part of the film. It offers insights into the science of dance music too, although I’m no DJ so I wouldn’t know how accurate it is, but it adds a sense of realism.

All in all a good watch, a proper feel good film and well worth adding to your collection.

“Rocking a party, step 1. So, it’s the DJ’s job to get the crowd out of their heads and into their bodies. So in order to do that, you need at the very least a caveman’s sense of rhythm, a cursory knowledge of mathematics and the broad strokes of 9th grade biology.”