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.

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.

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.

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.