"The Bling Ring" opened in theaters on June 21, 2013 after making its initial debut at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is based on the true story of a group of California teens who decided to start a new hobby burglarizing celebrities' homes in a quest for fancy watches, Gucci bags, and other expensive and sought-after items.
Directed by Sofia Coppola, daughter of acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, the movie focuses more on the characters than the actual events, leaving audiences wondering how today's society managed to spawn such a group of narcissistic, capitalistic young adults who have an over-inflated sense of entitlement and little in the way of moral values.
Rebecca (Katie Chang), the daughter of Korean immigrants, is the quintessential Valley girl and an overly confident high school student who is determined to live out her fantasies.
She befriends the typical shy guy, Mark (Israel Broussard), at the school she attends for teens who have been expelled from other schools.
Mark is a highly skilled computer geek who has just the skills Rebecca is looking for.
Nicki (Emma Watson) is a vivacious teen who dreams of becoming an actress, but spends most of her out-of-school hours as an underage club girl.
She and her best friends, Chloe (Claire Julien) and Sam (TaissaFarmiga), are home schooled by Nicki's mother (Leslie Mann) who also makes sure the girls keep up with their Adderall.
Rebecca comes up with a scheme that entails Mark putting his computer prowess to good use keeping tabs on the whereabouts of her favorite celebrities, so the group can break into and burglarize the homes.
The plan works perfectly, and the team is soon swimming in designer jewelry and couture, drugs, and money.
Their A-list idols, consisting of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, and Lindsey Lohan, are their first targets.
The group soon displays a complete lack of moral turpitude as they not only break into celebrities' homes but also spend their time indulging their wannabe fantasies.
They take self-portraits, called selfies, in the celebs' closets and wearing their clothes to the clubs, and they even post pictures of themselves doing all this on Facebook.
They have absolutely no regard for security cameras, appearing to live solely in the moment, and they continue to plan bigger and better crimes, including kidnapping Paris Hilton's pet Chihuahua and stealing and selling Orlando Bloom's prized watch collection.
Their cockiness eventually gets the better of them, and law enforcement catches up with the group and puts them behind bars.
Some of the celebrities mentioned in the film actually participated.
Paris Hilton made a cameo appearance while Lindsey Lohan allowed some filming to take place in her home.
Despite these celebs' apparent confidence in the movie, some celebrities weren't that thrilled to be an unwitting part in it.
Mischa Barton's 2008 DUI, for example, was mentioned in the film much to her chagrin.
The movie is less about the actual bling the group steals; it's more about the celebrity worship that is rampant in today's society.
Not too long ago, people had to actually accomplish something to become rich and famous.
In today's society, all you need to is to be able to grab attention by doing something that others will find interesting.
That could be committing a crime, having rich parents, or making an appearance on reality television.
The most interesting component to this story is that while society played a role in shaping these teens, it also helped to shape all the other teenagers who don't turn to crime.
In fact, there are many teens who want to make the world a better place and close the gap between the privileged class and those on the other end of the spectrum but in a very different way from how the teens in "The Bling Ring" tried to accomplish the same thing.
"The Bling Ring" was Sofia Coppola's fifth foray into directing; her previous directorial credits were "The Virgin Suicides," "Lost in Translation," "Marie Antoinette," and "Somewhere.
" Despite her lack of experience, she has already developed a unique style that lets her put her own stamp on the films she directs, and "The Bling Ring" is no exception.
In this film, she manages to focus on the individuals in the group and make viewers wonder how society can produce young adults with a lack of morals as shown by this group.
This is a must-see movie that will entertain you, make you laugh, and leave you scratching your head.
If you are parents, it may even make you go home, hug your children, and never let them out of your sight.
The film is based on the true story of a group of California teens who decided to start a new hobby burglarizing celebrities' homes in a quest for fancy watches, Gucci bags, and other expensive and sought-after items.
Directed by Sofia Coppola, daughter of acclaimed director Francis Ford Coppola, the movie focuses more on the characters than the actual events, leaving audiences wondering how today's society managed to spawn such a group of narcissistic, capitalistic young adults who have an over-inflated sense of entitlement and little in the way of moral values.
Rebecca (Katie Chang), the daughter of Korean immigrants, is the quintessential Valley girl and an overly confident high school student who is determined to live out her fantasies.
She befriends the typical shy guy, Mark (Israel Broussard), at the school she attends for teens who have been expelled from other schools.
Mark is a highly skilled computer geek who has just the skills Rebecca is looking for.
Nicki (Emma Watson) is a vivacious teen who dreams of becoming an actress, but spends most of her out-of-school hours as an underage club girl.
She and her best friends, Chloe (Claire Julien) and Sam (TaissaFarmiga), are home schooled by Nicki's mother (Leslie Mann) who also makes sure the girls keep up with their Adderall.
Rebecca comes up with a scheme that entails Mark putting his computer prowess to good use keeping tabs on the whereabouts of her favorite celebrities, so the group can break into and burglarize the homes.
The plan works perfectly, and the team is soon swimming in designer jewelry and couture, drugs, and money.
Their A-list idols, consisting of Paris Hilton, Orlando Bloom, and Lindsey Lohan, are their first targets.
The group soon displays a complete lack of moral turpitude as they not only break into celebrities' homes but also spend their time indulging their wannabe fantasies.
They take self-portraits, called selfies, in the celebs' closets and wearing their clothes to the clubs, and they even post pictures of themselves doing all this on Facebook.
They have absolutely no regard for security cameras, appearing to live solely in the moment, and they continue to plan bigger and better crimes, including kidnapping Paris Hilton's pet Chihuahua and stealing and selling Orlando Bloom's prized watch collection.
Their cockiness eventually gets the better of them, and law enforcement catches up with the group and puts them behind bars.
Some of the celebrities mentioned in the film actually participated.
Paris Hilton made a cameo appearance while Lindsey Lohan allowed some filming to take place in her home.
Despite these celebs' apparent confidence in the movie, some celebrities weren't that thrilled to be an unwitting part in it.
Mischa Barton's 2008 DUI, for example, was mentioned in the film much to her chagrin.
The movie is less about the actual bling the group steals; it's more about the celebrity worship that is rampant in today's society.
Not too long ago, people had to actually accomplish something to become rich and famous.
In today's society, all you need to is to be able to grab attention by doing something that others will find interesting.
That could be committing a crime, having rich parents, or making an appearance on reality television.
The most interesting component to this story is that while society played a role in shaping these teens, it also helped to shape all the other teenagers who don't turn to crime.
In fact, there are many teens who want to make the world a better place and close the gap between the privileged class and those on the other end of the spectrum but in a very different way from how the teens in "The Bling Ring" tried to accomplish the same thing.
"The Bling Ring" was Sofia Coppola's fifth foray into directing; her previous directorial credits were "The Virgin Suicides," "Lost in Translation," "Marie Antoinette," and "Somewhere.
" Despite her lack of experience, she has already developed a unique style that lets her put her own stamp on the films she directs, and "The Bling Ring" is no exception.
In this film, she manages to focus on the individuals in the group and make viewers wonder how society can produce young adults with a lack of morals as shown by this group.
This is a must-see movie that will entertain you, make you laugh, and leave you scratching your head.
If you are parents, it may even make you go home, hug your children, and never let them out of your sight.
SHARE
