The actor shared lead vocals on “Breaking Free”, an uptempo pop song from the original 2006 High School Musical film which became a Top Ten hit in both the US and the UK.
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Zac Efron and Wes Bentley in We Are Your Friends.
He stole the hearts of many teens while first emerging on the scene as Troy in High School Musical. He took her to Hawaii post “Dirty Grandpa” filming.
During a recent trip to England to promote their new movie “We Are Your Friends“, Zac Efron and Emily Ratajkowski found themselves in the middle of a musical quiz.
That doesn’t happen. Other elements, especially a rote romance between Cole and the Stanford-educated Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski), the icy girlfriend of a wealthy star DJ, clutter the storytelling.
Zac Efron stars as Cole Carter, a Valley bro and aspiring DJ who is surrounded by a small, scrappy and fiercely loyal crew of club promoters and drug dealers who want to escape to the Hollywood Hills.
The only thing more pathetic would be those viewers who’ll believe what writer-director Max Joseph is spinning, and walk out thinking, hey, I can do that. Other than Shaffer, the actors playing his buddies don’t really offer much either, while Wes Bentley comes across like a bargain basement Adam Scott as he portrays Cole’s mentor so arrogantly that you wonder why anyone would put up with his behavior. Efron’s films, on some level, deal with Efron himself, a young man trying to ford the raging stream of cultural relevance without drowning in his own reflection.
Cinematographer Brett Pawlak throws in some distracting flourishes of his own - in one romantic interlude, the lights of the Los Angeles skyline resemble blurred, vibrating sequins – as if he, too, were marking time until his big break. There are unexpectedly few EDM fests worked into the narrative (Electric Daisy Carnival gets a cameo, obvs), and even the cynical technicolor landscapes of Spring Breakers, the obvious precedent to We Are Your Friends, made partying seem more fun-here, there’s a workhorse quality to the raving that reflects the existential bent.
It’s sweet that you think so but, no, We Are Your Friends. Instead Joseph offered the name of the track adding, ‘I know because Emily’s not saying anything’.
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He’s clearly figured out how to make pop culture “shock” work for him and his movie. <i>We Are Your Friendsi> is unfailingly earnest in its appeal-it even includes us in the title!-so if I may, I’d like to answer the nearly question of its title directly.
