An A24 Picture, Written and Directed by Sofia Coppola.
The true story of the ‘Bling Ring’ is so utterly ridiculous and fascinating that I was really hoping we would get a deep exploration of the story and the people behind it.
However, I cannot criticise the film for not being what I wanted, because it never tries to be that, and instead makes itself into a surface level satire of the people and city involved.
It has been compared a lot to ‘Spring Breakers’, the Harmony Korine satire that also released around a similar time and also had child stars delivering shocking and daring performances, but Spring Breakers dared to delve a bit deeper and while still no masterpiece itself, did manage to be stronger than this.
Sofia Coppola has proved over the years what a talent she is, and while I think this is one of her weaker films, some of the best parts are directly because of her, mainly the impressive visuals and the casting.
Most of the cast don’t particularly elevate what they are given, but they certainly don’t let anyone down either. However, Emma Watson is absolute comedic gold, in a totally over the top and purposefully on the nose performance. It reminds people that when she works with the right directors (Coppola, Condon, Gerwig etc) she is a talented actress, and I hope to see her carrying on to take these sorts of risks.
Rating = 2.5/5
Howe's World of Film and TV 