Review of The Bling Ring (2013) by Alex G — 26 Sep 2013

A movie where you can obviously tell it's being made by an older person commenting on this generation. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola, the writer-director of the much superior Lost In Translation, which benefits from strong characters and eclectic sequences, this movie is so much of a routine it's not fun.

The first thing I will say is that all of the characters are simply just superficial and dumb. Yes, argue all you want that that is the point. However, it didn't sustain the movie at all, and the movie becomes a constant state of monotony through the party and robbery scenes. There's a certain point in the movie when you just want to say "Oh, arrest them already.".

I've always thought that antiheroes are much better when the filmmaker allows you to sympathize or maybe even empathize with them. Bonnie and Clyde, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and Travis Bickle are just a few examples. However, these antiheroes are so shallowly written that you don't care and can't wait for them to be arrested. I don't care if that's the point. It's still not interesting at all. I will give it this. Emma Watson did a good job (big surprise anyone?) and I somewhat enjoyed disliking the character of Rebecca.

When I say this movie feels like it's being directed by an older person, it's pretty obvious that the filmmaker has a certain amount of contempt for this generation. You could say she was just making a comment on those people, but I think the film opens room for general criticism on this generation. It was well on its way to becoming propaganda. I feel like some people are going to watch it and use it as an example of how this generation sucks, which would be more annoying and monotonous than the movie itself.

Overall, I didn't think it was very good at all. Watching this movie is like waiting for a long time to get into a restaurant for something boring, say, a family reunion. Except I think the family reunion would be a little more entertaining than the payoff. That was kind of a bad analogy, but you get my point.