3 stars (out of 5)
Docuemtarian Max Joseph’s first fictional feature film as co-writer and director is a sometimes goofy study of the DJ scene which is hopelessly familiar in structure but has enough pleasingly cheesy charm to make up for it.
In the unfashionable San Fernando Valley we meet four somewhat overage early-20s pals all itching to make it as DJs (of the laying-down-uniquely-trippy-tunes variety), but Cole Carter (Zac Efron), Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez), hothead Mason (Jonny Weston) and timid Squirrel (Alex Shaffer) are having trouble realising their doofus dreams. After selling some drugs and being forced to take a ghastly real estate gig with the repellent Paige (Jon Bernthal), Cole is lucky enough to bump into famous – and famously unpredictable – DJ James Reed (Wes Bentley), and the boozy, self-loathing James takes the lad under his wing for some reason or other (possibly just to have someone to rant at?).
If you’re now leaping ahead and thinking that Cole’s going to fall for James’ long-suffering girlfriend then you really should be writing scripts yourself, and as said girlfriend is played by Emily Ratajkowski (the brunette in the Blurred Lines video, and rather less awful than you’ve heard) it’s not surprising that the hormonal Cole goes for her in a big way. But we also have a stack of clichés to get through before they hook up, as well as a striking sequence involving PCP-induced animation hallucinations and a montage or two to help you understand what this damn DJ business is all about, including Cole’s cool description of how you time the music to an audience’s heartbeats to get them dancing.
And (dare it be said?) the conspicuously cute Zac is really pretty good here, and offers a light, quiet performance that’ll never win him an Oscar but will make teens swoon and just about force you to like him, whether you’ve taken ecstasy beforehand or not.
I Wake Up Screening 