Directed by: Sophia Coppola
Screenplay by: Sophia Coppola
Rated: R
Released: June 21, 2013
The Hook: Emma Watson and “based on actual events”
I am not going to lie. The main hook that reeled me in was Emma Watson. I love her. She did such a good job as Hermoine and now that the Harry Potter movie franchise has ended (at least for now), I like to see how she’s coming along in other acting gigs. So when I heard of The Bling Ring and Emma Watson, I had to check it out.
It took me this long to actually watch it because, really, it’s not my kind of movie. “Based on actual events” was the next thing that grabbed my attention, but watching a movie about teenagers stealing stuff just doesn’t grab my interest.
However, with all that said … well, on with the review.
Plot Summary: Marc moves to Indian Hills and meets Rebecca at Indian Hills High. Bored and looking for something to do, Rebecca suggests breaking into Paris Hilton’s home to look around. This eventually leads to grabbing a few things, because Paris Hilton is rich so why does she need all these dresses?, which leads to breaking into other celebrities homes and grabbing a few more things and in the end they get other friends involved and then they eventually get caught.
There are subplots, like Marc and Rebecca stealing stuff from cars and Marc seeing if he can get money for some of the stolen property, which he does. But the main focus of the story are these group of friends who break into celebrity homes and stealing jewelry, money, clothes, accessories simply because they can.
Review:
While this wasn’t the greatest movie in the teen angst genre, I did like the way it was done. It was filmed almost like a home video style without the whole Blair-Witch, motion sickness bit. I’m not sure if I’m nailing it down right, but that’s how it felt to me. The cameras and story plot mainly focus on Marc and his friendship with Rebecca and while the main shots follow their story of breaking into homes it’s almost as flashbacks because there are scenes of Marc and company in the police station answering lines of questioning from the police woven into the main storyline. I thought this style really worked with the screen play.
The film is based on a Vanity Fair article written by Nancy Jo Sales titled “The Suspects Wore Louboutins.” They did show someone ‘interviewing’ the suspects so that was a nice touch. Another nice touch was the addition of still photos of the celebrities whose homes were broken into. You definitely got the feel that this was all things Hollywood.
Kudos for cinematography.
As mentioned, this film was based on a Vanity Fair article so there’s not much room for flexibility as far as story goes. I did think, however, that the screen play was nicely done in terms of the raw material to work with. They were able to stretch it into a plausible story and a story that I think translates well on to the screen.
There have been arguments that it seemed superficial or that it was boring or that it was pointless to even make a film on this. While I understand their arguments and see where they are coming, I don’t think it was completely pointless when you see it from a cinematography point-of-view. How the story was told and presented seemed to the be the key element here. The film shined because of how it was presented on the big screen, not necessarily because it was a good story.
And that it was boring and superficial doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. I think the fact that it did happen makes it that more absurd.
While the story and plot lacked dramatic flair or comedic punch line, I give props to the screen play.
Which brings me to acting. For what it’s worth, they were pretty good. Good on-screen chemistry. I have to say though, they felt a little flat. And maybe they were supposed to be that way, but I thought they could have given a little more … umph? I thought Emma Watson did really good though and so did Tassia Farmiga. They had their moments which seemed to move the movie along.
Favorite Scene: I didn’t really have one, but I did chuckle a bit when Emma Watson said “Let’s go to Paris. I want to rob” because she deadpanned it and it was awesome.
Photo Credit: http://i.telegraph.co.uk