While the bass pulsates with electric fervor the dramatics just fizzles into a lot of confusion. Character dynamics are unremarkable while performances just don’t have the bite to get you involved. And the Bro-coterie angle( Cole’s friends who tag along) is quite tiresome to say the least. Wes Bentley and Emily Ratajkowski make their presence felt, though!

Regardless of your taste for pulsing electronic music or actor Zac Efron, both are undeniably appealing in this feature debut from director and co-writer Max Joseph. Though the plot may be predictable, Joseph energizes his coming-of-age musical romance with creative animation, explosive dance scenes and a vibrant soundtrack that’s like an entree to the EDM genre. And Efron brings such heart to the main character, he’s easy to root for.

Watch the film if you’re an Efron or Ratajkowski fan. Watch it if you like EDM. But don’t expect to find the answer to your life’s big questions.

What makes this film mediocre is Jones and Meaghan Oppenheimer’s writing. Taken from a story by executive producer Richard Silverman, the characters are half baked and one-dimensional and the plot surrenders to formula instead of subverting it.

This film is not a sendoff to EDM fans, but a cookie cutter, coming-of-age rom com, with a sprinkling of lame and generic EDM to look ‘hep’ and ‘cool’. Like most famous underground DJs who sold out and began belting out generic beats for commercial clubhouse and airtime gains, We Are Your Friends panders to the younger and dumber audience with the hope of striking box office gold.

There are parties, indoors and outdoors, lots of dancing, and plenty of gyrating bodies. How much you come away knowing about the music that is moving those people is another matter.

We Are Your Friends is devoid of any discernible rhythm. Straining for kinetic energy, the overall effect of director/co-writer Max Joseph’s first feature is of a tired, overambitious effort.

Zac as an aspiring DJ is uninspiring. He’s got a clueless look plastered on his face throughout, quite stoned by the looks of it. His character Cole is seemingly talented, supposedly has it factor, has abs, is a hit with the ladies. Everything Zac is. But in most of his other movies, he’s not what he is in this — terribly boring.

Cole claims to know how to manipulate the music in a way that it’ll seize your body and shut your mind off to everything else around you. You wait and wait, but alas, that never happens.

We Are Your Friends replicates the sensory experience of attending a rave or a music festival, with all the implied good vibes and the spirit of ‘connected-ness’. The fantastic cinematography and slick editing gives us blasts of trippy party scenes, while Zac Efron gives us an understated, yet magnetic protagonist.

Romance subplot aside though, we see that Reed clearly has some past issue. This, or the reason behind his fame, is never explained. Surprising, as Reed and Cole are pole characters. Cole learns his lessons but a little grittiness interspersed with the neon party lights and techno flash would’ve made things more interesting. Simply put, you’ll watch it if you’re big fan of Efron or Ratajkowski.