This film is not going to win any Oscars or 'best anything' awards.
'We Are Your Friends' doesn’t have any deeper philosophical statements to make; there’s no intriguing subtext, nothing to furrow your brow and stroke your chin over. It doesn’t do anything new, interesting, artistic or profound. But then it clearly never intended to. So to criticise it for any of this would be as senseless as criticising Seth Rogan for having failed to cure cancer.
What 'We Are Your Friends' does do, is quite transparently follow the classic film formula. There’s the anticipation stage, which is even referenced within the film as “the moment before it begins”. This is where we meet Cole and his buddies. And his headphones. Cole’s headphones remain fixed around his neck for most of the film. Why? Because he’s a motherfucking DJ, that’s why. And that means he takes drugs, parties, bangs “hot sluts” and has the unusual inability to remove his headphones, even when he’s clearly not in a position to put them to any practical use.
From the anticipation stage, we move on to the dream-phase, where Cole starts to have some success, then the inevitable frustration stage where the first obstacles pop up, the nightmare stage, where everything that could go wrong does and then, finally, the resolution, where obstacles are overcome and life lessons learned. There are some amazing films that still follow this structure but they’re so creative in their construction they don’t feel formulaic. 'We Are Your Friends' colours resolutely within the lines of the formula so you always know exactly what’s coming next. It is perfectly predictable. But there are some genuine laughs and the characters are likeable enough that you’re happy to follow along with what’s going on. To be honest, I quite didn’t mind watching it. I was entertained. So, in this sense, it has fulfilled its purpose as a movie and should be congratulated.
What I do take issue with, however, is the music. 'We Are Your Friends' is basically the story of how a DJ learned to make rudimentary electronic music and then fill it with all the bad things that exist. Literally all of them. Lengthy, winding build ups, lame samples, lyrics like “synchronicity is electricity” and unfulfilling drops that almost immediately wash out into long breakdowns full of more wanky samples. We’re also treated to the DJ talking into the mic, yelling at the crowd and fist pumping like he’s just had cocaine for the first time and become acquainted with how awesome he is.
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The film also claims the only danceable BPM range is that of techno and below, slamming high BPM genres. Ignoring drum and bass and hi-tech (both highly danceable, high BPM genres), the film selects an obnoxious hardcore track as an example of why you can’t dance to anything above 128 BPM, essentially advertising their own ignorance in exchange for a few cheap laughs from audience members who aren’t into electronic music.
Considered as a whole, 'We Are Your Friends' was enjoyable fluff from people who know a lot about EDM but nothing about quality music. But the fact that it celebrates and promotes DJ self-obsession and the creation of truly terrible music is worrying.
Given these facts, my recommendations are as follows: for music producers, 'We Are Your Friends' could be put to brilliant use as a how-not-to-make-music instructional film. For everyone else, it’s the kind of movie best reserved for a Sunday afternoon when you’re hungover and want to watch something you don’t have to think about and don’t care if you fall asleep in.
