For something that's billed as an EDM (electronic dance music) "coming-of-age" movie, We Are Your Friends might surprise you.
Max Joseph's directorial debut, which is allegedly not about the music but "about a generation," chronicles the tumultuous rise of a 23-year-old DJ (Zac Efron) on the L.A. club scene who repeatedly poses one existential (and very millennial) question: Are we ever going to be better than this? The film could be, but it's not that bad.
With beats-per-minute the name of the game, the narrative arc is punctuated by both the hottest tracks (arranged by music producer Randall Poster) and use of animation to emphasize the frequent drug trips and general abandon that come with an EDM lifestyle.
If you suspend your disbelief for some of the weaker plot points and unnecessary use of the c-word, the film is palatable. Gratuitous shots of Efron with his shirt off don't hurt either. And as an older, damaged DJ points out, looking over a millennial crowd, there are "lots of beating hearts out there." He's right: The thing about raves, and generational angst, is that you kind of have to be there.