With the dubious honour of having the fourth-ever-lowest box office wide release US opening weekend, We Are Your Friends seems to have completely missed its likely audience, perhaps the result of a marketing campaign that failed to get across the tone of the film, rather like the actual movie itself seems to search for. Like videogame adaptations, this hedonistic sunshine-and-neon-bathed DJ-and-drugs tale is perhaps targeted at an audience who would rather be out there doing it as opposed to watching it on screen. It's life/coming-of-age messages and construction are hardly subtle (hilariously, there is a shot of the Las Vegas Eiffel Tower outside the hotel window for the sex scene), but it takes a lot of wading through a mish-mash of tones and ideas before thankfully arriving at a final poignant realisation of moving on from the indestructible carefree youthful idealism to a more grounded adult reality in touch with the real world. Efron is earnest and effective, Wes Bentley puts in good work as his older DJ mentor, and Jonny Weston stands out with an energetic turn as Efron's club-bound best friend. The soundtrack is well-chosen, and as end-of-summer lightweight filler and an Idiot's Guide To Laptop-DJing, We Are Your Friends fits the bill, but it lacks a consistent energy and drive that the set-up suggests and needs.
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