Review of The Bling Ring (2013) by Mackenzie M — 21 Sep 2015

Sofia Coppola's cyber-stalking drama is a glamorisation of teen drug culture and suspiciously simple breaking and entering.

Based (presumably very loosely) on real events, the film follows trashed-up teen thieves who crash multi-million dollar homes; the owners of whom never seem to lock doors, have burglar alarms, or own any form of security measures whatsoever (outside of one grainy black-and-white CCTV camera that *spoiler alert* - eventually brings about the kids' doom).

The concept is perhaps only really believable in the case of Paris Hilton's pad, but that's not the biggest problem with the film. The issue is that, though the soundtrack is spot-on, and the under-explored exploits of these interchangeable teens are, on the surface, entertaining; The Bling Ring ultimately demonstrates nothing but that every kid in SoCal does coke and gets into clubs, and Emma Watson can do an American accent and hazy prom-queen eyes like a trooper.