We Are Your Friends
Cole Carter (Zac Efron), a former track star and struggling 23-year-old DJ in the electronic dance music (EDM) scene, dreams of becoming a major record producer. He constantly reminds himself that his plan to rise to the top consists of three things: a laptop, some talent, and one track. Cole lives with his friend, Mason (Jonny Weston), and they would usually hang out along with their friends, Ollie (Shiloh Fernandez) and Squirrel (Alex Shaffer), around their native San Fernando Valley. With Mason's help and his friends heavily promoting at college campuses, Cole finally books a gig to DJ at a local nightclub, where he meets the headliner, a once-innovative DJ, James Reed (Wes Bentley). After their gigs, Cole finally comes face-to-face with James, sharing a joint together. James invites Cole to tag along at a party where Cole starts to hallucinate because the joint they shared contained Phencyclidine (PCP). The morning after, Cole wakes up at James' house where he is introduced to Sophie (Emily Ratajkowski), James' girlfriend and personal assistant, who voluntarily drives him home.
After their earnings from the event do not meet their satisfaction, they turn to their friend, Paige (Jon Bernthal), who runs a real estate solutions firm, to which the four are employed. Later, James calls Cole to serve as a DJ at his house party, a paid gig. After explaining to Sophie the key mechanics of DJ-ing, James sees the potential in Cole, who is then interrupted by his three friends arriving at the party. After a fight between Mason and one of James' guests breaks out, James forgives Cole for his friend's actions. From there, James takes Cole as his student. After listening to Cole's original song, James criticizes Cole for imitating other well-known producers, like Skrillex, and he openly suggests to use organic sounds for an original vibe. The two then co-create a song together using that technique, along with vocals from Sophie, which is met with success at the local nightclub. One night, James suggests that Cole would escort Sophie to a soirée hosted by her college classmates, where he learns more of her past, which causes a fight. Sophie later thanks him for standing up for her. Cole and his friends head to Las Vegas for a music festival, where he strays away from his group to meet up with Sophie, who James ditched. Sophie then gives Cole MDMA, and they quickly fall for each other, and they run away together to the Las Vegas Strip, riding the High Roller, and checking into the Paris Las Vegas where they dance and end up having passionate sex.
Back in San Fernando, James invites Cole over to watch an MMA fight with him and Sophie. An awkward moment ends up with Sophie telling Cole to accept what happened and to leave it alone, and James gives Cole a new MacBook Pro and the opportunity to open for him at Summer Fest, a popular music festival. One day, Cole and Paige meet up with Tanya Romero (Alicia Coppola), whose house is undergoing foreclosure. During the negotiation, Paige buys her house and rents it back to her, with the intention to sell it quickly for a substantial price, which angers Cole. While James' alcoholism begins to affect Sophie, he and Cole go to a strip club for his birthday. Cole falls ill and James finds out about Cole's relationship with Sophie, severing ties with him. Returning to his three friends, it is revealed that Squirrel has been looking for better jobs due to his intellect and Mason has rented a house for all of them. After intense partying with drugs and alcohol, Squirrel is found unconscious that morning, and later dies from an overdose. After the funeral, the remaining friends begin to question their future, ending up going their separate ways when Mason blames Ollie for the drugs that Squirrel overdosed on. Cole visits James, whose alcoholism completely consumed him, to let him know of Squirrel's death and it could have possibly have been his fault, to which James consoles him and also tells him that Sophie moved to the San Fernando Valley and works at a local coffee shop, where he later visits her.
While taking a run, the battery of Cole's phone goes dead, causing his music to stop playing. Upon closer observation, he listens to his surroundings which inspires him to record samples and integrate it into his long-awaited track. Cole then calls and tells James that he has something for Summer Fest, which he gives him another chance. The festival is set outside the American Apparel building in Los Angeles. Cole releases his track, which contains snippets of his conversations with Sophie and Squirrel, and he later uses Squirrel's quote "Are We Ever Going To Be Better Than This?" as a hook before the beat drop. When the song ends, Cole is met with enthusiastic acclaim from the audience and James. The film concludes with Sophie going back to college, Ollie reading for an audition, Mason handling the nightclub, and Cole remaining positive about his future and creating a proper relationship with Sophie.
In the Mid-credits scene, Tanya opens her front door to an Adidas box that Cole has been saving all of his earnings in throughout the film.
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