The Bling RingFame or notoriety; what's the difference? The Bling Ring is a crime drama based on true events, concerning a clique of high school students who break into the opulent mansions of celebrities. (The names have been changed to protect the...y'know, never mind.) It begins with a quiet teen named Mark Hall (Israel Broussard) who is approached on his first day at an "alternative school" (Indian Hills High School) by the pretty and inviting Rebecca Ahn (Katie Chang). Feeling welcomed and sharing common interests in fashion and celebrity gossip, the two bond quickly. And then Rebecca takes Mark out to steal wallets out of unlocked cars while walking down the street...
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Writer and director Sofia Coppola took on quite a challenge in adapting the "Vanity Fair" article titled "The Suspects Wore Louboutins" by Nancy Jo Sales into The Bling Ring. Not because of a lack of intriguing content, but because of the savvy way she manages to captivate the audience's attention with only the flimsiest amount of sympathy for our protagonist (Mark). The Hollywood Hills portrayed in The Bling Ring is overtly satirical, and yet never feels unlikely. It is--and virtually everyone in it--a product and victim of celebrity "culture". Sure, Rebecca is an obvious kleptomaniac and schemer who uses Mark from the start to indulge her ego and exploit his low self-esteem for a ready-made accomplice. But would they have found for themselves such an enticing idea in burgling the rich and famous were they not already steeped so heavily in celebrity worship? There's not an easy answer to this question, which is but one of the many compelling aspects of The Bling Ring. Mark allows himself to fall in with Rebecca's vapid and celebrity-obsessed friends, including wannabe actress Nicolette "Nicki" Moore (Emma Watson), her adopted sister, Sam (Taissa Farmiga), and Chloe Tainer (Claire Julien), who keeps company with some truly shady fellows. All of these girls seem like exaggerations of monstrous teenagers--out all night drinking and doing hard drugs, and so flippant and sarcastic that you can't help but roll your eyes. But interestingly enough, one of the earliest scenes in The Bling Ring involves Nicki's mother, Laurie (Leslie Mann), forcing them into a "prayer" that is taken from the outlandish cult-like pseudoscience book adapted from The Secret. All of these girls are living posh, unstructured lives; no wonder they're completely undisciplined. And yet, they get away with their affluenza at every turn. They live like rock stars without any work at all and no punishment, so of course they're attracted to the likes of Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, both of whom they rob. For Mark, who has only read about living this "high life" on blogs and Facebook and in celebrity gossip magazines, the attraction is just as strong. Decadence is a hell of a drug.
Making a movie about true events is always a loaded prospect, even one that skirts so close to reality as The Bling Ring. But this is essential to this movie, since a large part of the enjoyment of watching the plot unfold comes from at least a passing familiarity with the celebrity icons whose homes are pilfered. Including the aforementioned Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, there is Orlando Bloom, Megan Fox, and many, many more. Some are hard-working, dedicated actors, and others had their luxury handed to them; and sometimes, it's a bit of both. But all of them have had careers that have thrived in an era that glamorizes their very lifestyles. To her credit, Paris Hilton was a real champ both letting The Bling Ring be filmed in her own home where the burglaries were committed, not to mention making a cameo in the movie. And this is especially important, as the home of the Hilton heiress and glamour queen is a veritable Mecca to herself. There's no way to watch this and not be confronted with the combined and opposed sensations of awe and disgust at this mix of luxury and vanity. So the question that many viewers of The Bling Ring will be forced to ask is whether the film is glamorizing this excess or criticizing it...or, yet again, maybe both. The best films allow for its audience to choose where they land on that spectrum, and The Bling Ring is no exception. This is persistent in the movie, and is perhaps best embodied (in my opinion) when Mark is frolicking in his bedroom, listening to some soulless pop music, dancing and singing into his computer camera while taking constant hits off of a marijuana pipe. (The image of a pig rolling around in filth isn't far from my mind here.) Mark is having the time of his life, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the lack of boundaries aren't leading him--or his friends--anywhere good. The real-life exploits of "The Bling Ring" were (thankfully) a bloodless affair, but just look how close Mark and company come to real, hard crime? Drugs and alcohol are not just abundant, they're offered freely to these minors at nearly every turn. (If this wasn't based on true events, I'd believe that Bret Easton Ellis might have had a hand in this story's inception.) Consider how in one scene Chloe discovers a gun and waives it around recklessly while teasing Mark. Stupid--there's no other word for it. But she believes that she is invincible, and that consequences don't apply to her, because they haven't before...so why should they start now? Kids do amazingly dumb--even criminal--things that most people wouldn't believe if you told them. But without discipline, without true parenting, and without caution, why wouldn't they? This is the sobering undercurrent of The Bling Ring that marks the film as something more than just a rehashing of pop culture shenanigans and tabloid antics of the would-be glitterati.
Recommended for: Fans of a surprisingly insightful recounting of true events that say more about adolescent indulgence than the crimes themselves. The events of The Bling Ring may seem hard to fathom at times, but there is something keenly astute in how Coppola convincingly depicts how entitlement fosters an illusion of invincibility that teens gravitate toward when adults fail to teach. It also asks us to reconsider what (and who) we devote our attentions to, and most importantly, why. If we did, I doubt that this kind of celebrity fervor would even exist.
Making a movie about true events is always a loaded prospect, even one that skirts so close to reality as The Bling Ring. But this is essential to this movie, since a large part of the enjoyment of watching the plot unfold comes from at least a passing familiarity with the celebrity icons whose homes are pilfered. Including the aforementioned Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan, there is Orlando Bloom, Megan Fox, and many, many more. Some are hard-working, dedicated actors, and others had their luxury handed to them; and sometimes, it's a bit of both. But all of them have had careers that have thrived in an era that glamorizes their very lifestyles. To her credit, Paris Hilton was a real champ both letting The Bling Ring be filmed in her own home where the burglaries were committed, not to mention making a cameo in the movie. And this is especially important, as the home of the Hilton heiress and glamour queen is a veritable Mecca to herself. There's no way to watch this and not be confronted with the combined and opposed sensations of awe and disgust at this mix of luxury and vanity. So the question that many viewers of The Bling Ring will be forced to ask is whether the film is glamorizing this excess or criticizing it...or, yet again, maybe both. The best films allow for its audience to choose where they land on that spectrum, and The Bling Ring is no exception. This is persistent in the movie, and is perhaps best embodied (in my opinion) when Mark is frolicking in his bedroom, listening to some soulless pop music, dancing and singing into his computer camera while taking constant hits off of a marijuana pipe. (The image of a pig rolling around in filth isn't far from my mind here.) Mark is having the time of his life, but it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the lack of boundaries aren't leading him--or his friends--anywhere good. The real-life exploits of "The Bling Ring" were (thankfully) a bloodless affair, but just look how close Mark and company come to real, hard crime? Drugs and alcohol are not just abundant, they're offered freely to these minors at nearly every turn. (If this wasn't based on true events, I'd believe that Bret Easton Ellis might have had a hand in this story's inception.) Consider how in one scene Chloe discovers a gun and waives it around recklessly while teasing Mark. Stupid--there's no other word for it. But she believes that she is invincible, and that consequences don't apply to her, because they haven't before...so why should they start now? Kids do amazingly dumb--even criminal--things that most people wouldn't believe if you told them. But without discipline, without true parenting, and without caution, why wouldn't they? This is the sobering undercurrent of The Bling Ring that marks the film as something more than just a rehashing of pop culture shenanigans and tabloid antics of the would-be glitterati.
Recommended for: Fans of a surprisingly insightful recounting of true events that say more about adolescent indulgence than the crimes themselves. The events of The Bling Ring may seem hard to fathom at times, but there is something keenly astute in how Coppola convincingly depicts how entitlement fosters an illusion of invincibility that teens gravitate toward when adults fail to teach. It also asks us to reconsider what (and who) we devote our attentions to, and most importantly, why. If we did, I doubt that this kind of celebrity fervor would even exist.