Friday, June 21, 2013

The Bling Ring Movie Review


From our friends at DC Film Review...

Coppola's One Trick Pony

I learned a couple of tips from Sofia Coppola's The Bling Ring, based on the true story of a group of teenage home invaders and their celebrity victims. First, don't homeschool your children... ever. Second, invest in a really good alarm system or have the good sense to lock all your doors when you're not home. Coppola's film version is flashy, loud and apparently void of any morals: It repeats itself way too often, but its stars are engaging enough to help you look past a clear lack of substance.

Rotten Tomatoes Plot: In THE BLING RING, Oscar Winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola takes us inside the world of these teens, where their youthful naiveté  and excitement is amplified by today's culture of celebrity and luxury brand obsession. The members of the Bling Ring introduce us to temptations that any teenager would find hard to resist. And what starts out as youthful fun spins out of control, revealing a sobering view of our modern culture.

What’s Best: Once you get past the shock of how easy it is to break into a famous person's house and rob them; you're not left with much. Thankfully Leslie Mann is on hand to show how not to raise teenage children. Mann's Laurie starts every morning with prayers and an enema; and to think my Mom only gave me bacon & eggs.

To their credit, the thieving teens are played with delightful energy by a young cast led by Katie Chang as ringleader Rachel and best mate Marc (Israel Broussard) who seems to take everything in stride, 'I never thought of myself as an A-list looking guy.' Coppola has a way of putting things in simple terms, so even the Paris Hiltons and Lindsay Lohans of the world can understand (and appreciate.)

What’s Not: The superficiality of it all is exhausting to sit through: How much acting ability do you need to spit out, 'It was chill' and 'Let's go shopping!' If you replace the pretty faces with the real ones, I bet you couldn't sit through five minutes of this nonsense. Thank goodness for the magic of Hollywood.

Best Line: Emma Watson plays a great ditz, and gets most of the good lines. 'I'm a firm believer in karma. I want to lead a country one day for all I know.' 'Jude Law keeps totally texting me,' and my personal favorite 'Let's go to Paris's. I want to rob!'

Overall: One note or not, I couldn't help but enjoy most of The Bling Ring. Sure it's annoying how callous everyone is, especially regarding drugs, DWIs and grand larceny; but if you take it with a grain of salt, you may find it kind of exciting and fun (without the risk of serving time in jail.) When Becca purrs, 'I want to get some Victoria Secret's clothes,' you almost want to join her: After all, it looks so easy... Like taking candy from a baby.

Grade: B-