We Are Your Friends

With films such as Me and Orson Welles and Bad Neighbours behind him, Zac Efron has built up a solid if unsensational CV since hopping off the High School Musical merry-go-round. We Are Your Friends won't catapult his career to the next level, but it's a well-made, vibrant music-scene drama that's well targeted at a hip audience. Efron plays an LA dance-party DJ and writer of rave music. He's small time, but wants to be big-time. But his ambitions are set back somewhat by some boorish buddies, by the dodgy cold-calling he has to do to make ends meet, and by his falling for the girlfriend (Emily Ratajkowski) of the veteran DJ (Wes Bentley) who's his idol and mentor. Efron' s climactic killer dance track, a sounds-of-life assemblage, is a mite underwhelming, and occasional attempts to visualise the scene's sounds and styles are a little lame. But this is still one of the better recent music-scene films. Niche, maybe, but nice.