Time for a bit of a rave now at the W Movie Blog as Zac
Efron takes us on a whirlwind tour of a vapid DJ’s rise to stardom.
The film’s hero, Cole, is listed as 23 with the 28 year old
Efron looking all of the five years older than he’s supposed to be. I guess it
would look a bit sad if someone was nearly 30 and still struggling with ‘what
will I do with my life’ type issues.
Cole is a DJ and looking for a big break. A chance encounter
with a superstar DJ gives him some hope, but of course the famous DJ has a sexy
girlfriend that Cole lusts over. Whilst trying to spin the wheels of steel, (he's actually more of a laptop man) Cole
tries to arrange some DJing gigs with his friends and generally hangs around a
lot. The gang do get a job at Jon Bernthal’s boiler shop property business, but
our guys are better than that!
Are they though? They seem like a bunch of drug taking
wasters! Cole gets offered a big gig but makes an arse of it by sleeping with
the superstar DJ’s girlfriend and by calling him a has been. Later some more
drug taking claims a victim and Cole re-evaluates his life choices – can he make
the record that will seal his DJ credentials?
I must admit to quite enjoying this film despite it’s overly
familiar premise and unlikeable cast of characters. For a start it’s always
sunny and everyone is gorgeous, so there is that. The plot is so familiar you’ll
think that you have seen this before, but given its box office, you likely haven’t.
It does however ask little of the audience and it has a banging soundtrack,
albeit one that relies of the euphoria burst style of music a little too often.
There were some decent touches such as Cole’s voice over
animated description of how DJing works – and it’s not just sticking on a load
of records people! There was also a fun sequence where Cole takes drugs, and
the scene becomes slowly animated as he gets more and more mashed.
The subplot of the exploitative mortgage scheme didn’t go anywhere,
and Jon Bernthal was largely wasted. It did teach the kids that capitalism is
wrong however and they’d be better off in clubs and taking drugs.
Efron is good as Cole but he is a bit too old and I didn’t
really buy his character who seemed like a sneaky and ungrateful wee shit. His
epiphany at the end that his killer tune should be sounds from real life was a
bit silly and I doubt many of the punters in the Glasgow Tunnel would have
indulged his five-minute build up and the track which included sound bites from his pals.
All in all it was a vacuous and pointless exercise, but the
kicking soundtrack and bikini clad ladies made it a passable experience – but only
just!
Best Bit - Pool Party
W Score 13/23
No comments:
Post a Comment