Review of The Bling Ring (2013) by Ryan G — 15 Aug 2014

Plenty of positives, plenty of negatives, and I would say the positives outweigh the negatives. At it's worst it felt like a CW miniseries, at it's best I was smiling and thoroughly enjoying myself.

Despite great performances across the board, and especially from Israel Broussard (Marc), I really couldn't get into lead Katie Chang. While Coppola used her familiar subtle touch to get us to look deeper into Marc, his motivations, his frustrations, and his perception of his new surroundings, Katie's character Rebecca was generally unreachable, a fault split between her generally simple dialogue as well as an unconvincing display from Chang herself.

Although the camerawork itself lacks at times, the creative decision to stay in the ground-level perspective of the teens themselves is ingenious. A satire, this movie could have easily suffered from some unbelievable plot points peppered throughout, yet filming from the moral and emotional level of the bling ring-ers helps reel us back in. Of course, this concept is aided by the foreboding elements introduced in the opening few minutes; interviews with off-screen questioners are not particularly new (think "The Social Network") but are essential to give the film, despite a short 90 minute runtime, the sense of urgency needed to keep the plot moving.

Overall, "The Bling Ring" is enjoyable, being as flashy, grand, and loud (the music is fantastic) as the plot itself, and elements of Coppola's fine work shine through despite being muddied with a few underwhelming performances.