WE ARE YOUR FRIENDS (Max Joseph). 96 minutes. Opens Friday (August 28). See listings. Rating: NNN
Where to watch: iTunes
It’s being marketed like another Entourage movie, but Max Joseph’s We Are Your Friends is a little more interesting and a good deal smarter. It follows a pretty familiar arc, but it hits the required beats with style and a couple of surprisingly well-considered performances.
Zac Efron is Cole, a young DJ whose path to success is complicated when he meets his idol (Wes Bentley) and starts to suspect that there might be more to life than sex, drugs and electronic dance music.
Efron’s a good fit for the role of the wide-eyed, impressionable hero, but the real weight of We Are Your Friends is carried by the terrific Bentley, who gives his best performance in years, and Emily Ratajkowski, whose knowing turn as his young, appealing assistant should do a great deal more for her than her appearance in the Entourage picture.
In the EDM genre, Mia Hansen-Løve’s recent Eden still wins on ambition and introspection, but this one can play to a crowd.
Check out our interview with Zac Efron, Emily Ratajkowski and Max Joseph here.
