Film Review: The Bling Ring

A24 Films
Directed by Sofia Coppola
Written by Sofia Coppola
Rated R
In theaters: June 21st, 2013
On DVD: September 17th, 2013
Synopsis from Rotten Tomatoes:

In THE BLING RING, Oscar Winning filmmaker Sofia Coppola takes us inside the world of these teens, where their youthful naivete 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. (c) A24

Review:

I don't think it'll be very surprising that my primary reason for watching The Bling Ring was because Emma Watson is in it. I did become somewhat intrigued about the real story of the Bling Ring though, and I was interested to see the film. Overall, I did enjoy the movie. I have only seen one other Sofia Coppola movie (Marie Antoinette), and I really enjoy that movie. After watching The Bling Ring, I really want to go watch her other movies. I didn't think The Bling Ring was great exactly, but I still want to see her other movies since I like the two I've seen.

My biggest problem with the movie is that I feel like it was a rather shallow portrayal of what happened. I know that the characters were shallow, and that was part of the point. However, they had to have had motivation for doing what they did, and I don't think that motivation was explored enough. I just think the characters could have been fleshed out more and made more human instead of the shallow robots that they more or less came across as in the movie.

That being said, I did like the movie for the most part, and I could see hints of the movie trying to make the characters less shallow. It definitely could have been a worse movie. I thought it was entertaining. I do see it as more of an artsy kind of film than a mainstream kind of one, and I could see that putting some people off. One thing I noticed is that there's a good deal of silence in certain parts and in other parts there are long periods of just loud music and nothing else. I can see the long periods of no dialogue turning some people off, but it didn't bother me.

I would definitely say that this isn't a movie that everyone would like, but I found it an enjoyable movie for the most part, even if I had some problems with it.